Final Fantasy Guardians
by VeryBerry96
Summary: Sakura is a young Al Bhed girl full of life and spirit. She has a fairly normal life with her Uncle Cid and cousin Rikku. But when Rikku finds a strange boy washed up in a cave who claims he's from Zanarkand, a city destroyed for 1000 years, her life will change forever. OC Final Fantasy X fanfiction.
1. Prologue

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is an OC Final Fantasy X fanfiction. If you've never played FFX then you may not understand the prologue, but don't worry, all will be explained in later chapters. Chapter 1 will go back to the beginning of the story and start explain everything. Hope you enjoy! Please read and review! This is my first fanfiction and I'd really appreciate the support!**

**DISCLAIMER:****Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

Prologue

We were all sitting on a hill high up, looking out over the remnants of the ancient city; his city, his old home. Nobody spoke as we contemplated what we all knew we would soon have to face. Everyone either stared at the pyreflies, the fire or just at the ground. We had stuck our weapons in a mound of earth a little away from where we were; we knew that we would be fighting almost constantly soon enough – tonight was not a night to be armed, it was our evening of calm before the storm.

Eventually, Tidus stood up. As he rested his hand on Yuna's shoulder for a moment, she turned her head slightly and closed her eyes. I couldn't help but smile at the two of them, earning me a glare from Lulu. I knew it wasn't right for me to encourage them, but I couldn't help it; they were perfect for each other. Lulu knew that, but she was also convinced that nothing could ever happen between them. What Lulu didn't seem to understand was that both Yuna and Tidus knew Yuna's fate, as did we all, but they didn't care about what it meant for them. They still wanted to be together, even if it was just for a short time.

Tidus let go of Yuna's shoulder and, as he walked away, her face changed. She was trying to hide it, but she was sad. Anyone in her position would be. It wasn't just that though; this was a sad place just to be near. You could feel it in the air. Hundreds of summoners and their guardians would have sat in the exact same spot where we were, looking over the same ruined city, probably feeling the same things we all were: worry, fear, sadness, confusion, maybe even a bit of regret.

Tidus climbed up on a high mound behind Auron and Wakka. From where I was sitting, between Kimahri and Rikku, I could still see him. He stared out at Zanarkand, his now-destroyed homeland. Nobody followed him. We all understood why he wanted to be on his own, Rikku and I more than the others. We know how it feels to see your home in ruins.

I looked round at the rest of our group. Yuna was now staring into our small fire, her face thoughtful, but still sad. She knew that we were all worried about her, and she hated us feeling like that, although if we weren't worried, we wouldn't be very good friends.

Auron was also watching the flames, but his face was emotionless. Auron isn't exactly known for being gushy. I don't think I've even seen him look sad about anything, although he would be anxious for Yuna's safety along with the rest of us.

Wakka on the other hand could get pretty emotional sometimes. He was keeping his eyes on the floor, probably not trusting himself to look any of us in the eye in case he bubbled over or said something he'd regret.

Lulu was sitting on a rock instead of on the ground like the rest of us, but she wasn't acting high-and-mighty; she looked just as upset as Wakka, but I knew she could hold it together better than him. She felt like she had to be strong for Yuna's sake. She still thought of her as her younger sister that she had to protect.

Rikku looked like she was about to cry. She's not very good at hiding her emotions. I felt like I should give her a hug, but I was sure that if I did, she wouldn't be able to keep a lid on her tears and then she'd feel embarrassed.

Kimahri…well, Ronso are _very_ good at hiding their emotions, but I knew he'd be feeling the same pain as the rest of us, maybe even more so. I think sometimes he still looks at Yuna as the child he first met years ago in Bevelle.

Me, I felt upset, worried, afraid and, of all things, guilty. If Tidus, Rikku and I had managed to think of another way for Yuna to defeat Sin, things might have been different. We might have not been sitting here, and everyone wouldn't look so sad.

I looked up at Tidus, who was still looking out at Zanarkand. I saw his fist clench. He was mad at himself too. He was one of Yuna's guardians too, and he felt responsible for her. We all did. But the question now was if we still had time to think of a way to save Yuna.

This is our story. Please listen; it needs to be heard.


	2. Chapter 1 - Fryd ev ed ec risyh?

**Chapter 1 - Fryd ev ed ec risyh?**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: First proper chapter! Hope you enjoy! Please read and review; this is my first fanfiction and I'd really appreciate the feedback. Thanks! **

**Also, for anyone who's wondering, the chapter title translates from Al Bhed to "What if it is human?" which is what Rikku says to stop the other Al Bhed killing Tidus at the beginning of FFX.**

**TinayValentine - Thank you! I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you like this one too!**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

I leaned over the rails of the salvage ship and sighed. Being a kid sucks. Uncle Cid never let me go on salvage missions or recon with the others. Apparently I was "too young", but he let Rikku go! She's only two years older than me.

I picked at the diving suit that Uncle Cid said we have to wear on the ship. I really didn't like it; it was orange which doesn't suit me at all, and it went right round my head, pulling back all my hair back off my face which made me feel really uncomfortable. It wasn't a real diving suit anyway; if I was to leap off the ship into the sea it wouldn't keep me dry. It was just a jumpsuit. A hideously orange, awkwardly tight jumpsuit. Rikku just gave it to me so I wouldn't feel left out after she convinced her father to let me come on the ship.

Cid was Rikku's dad. He's been looking after me for as long as I can remember. My parents died when I was very young in an accident with a faulty machina, the same accident that killed Rikku's mother. My mother and Rikku's father were brother and sister, and Rikku and I, as cousins, have always been very close. Brother on the other hand…

"_They leave you behind again?" _ I heard a voice say in Al Bhed behind me.

I turned around and, as I expected, there was Brother, my other cousin, Cid's oldest child.

"_What about you? You're still here too, in case you didn't notice"_

"_Father needs my help on the ship. You, on the other hand, are just being a nuisance", _he grinned.

I smirked and pushed him. Not expecting it, he fell over. I burst out laughing, the loving little cousin that I am.

Brother and I have teased each other since we were both children. Because he was older than us (and, although he'd never admit it, because he's a boy) he thought he was better than us at everything, and we always took great joy in beating him in races, or in getting him in trouble for things that we did wrong.

"_Suki!" _he complained_. "Respect your elders!"_

I held out my hand to haul him up. _"Earn respect then!"_

He grabbed my hand, let me pull him up, and then pushed me down as revenge.

"_You look really stupid in that suit by the way!" _ he called over his shoulder as he ran back off the deck onto the bridge.

I grumbled under my breath as I stood back up. For all that Brother was older than me, he wasn't half immature. Sometimes I just wanted to chuck him overboard. He didn't even have to wear a dive suit because he was on the bridge with Cid most of the time. I thought he looked like an idiot with his chest all tattooed and his problem of seemingly never wanting to wear a shirt. The masses of earrings didn't help his image either in my opinion.

"_Salvage team's back!" _Brother yelled from the bridge. I couldn't see him, but I could definitely hear him. _"Sakura! Go help; they've got something!" _

I didn't usually appreciate being ordered around, but helping to haul anything the team finds on missions is pretty much the only job Uncle Cid lets me do, and I really want to do whatever I can to help, the main reason being so maybe he'll _finally_ let me go on recon with Rikku.

I ran round the deck to the back of the ship. Rikku was already up the ladder, leaning over to pull something up. Usually the only thing they bring back onto the ship is any machina that need extra equipment to fix them that the salvage team can't carry with them. So you can probably imagine my surprise when I leaned over to help and saw that they were pulling up an unconscious _person_.

"_What the…"_ I muttered, my eyes getting larger.

It was a young guy, tanned with dirty-blonde hair. His clothes were pretty weird: he had a jacket which showed his chest, with one short yellow sleeve and one long blue and red sleeve. He had a short black glove on one hand and a long brown one on the other. Even one of his pant legs was longer than the other. All in all, he looked kind of uneven.

We dragged him onto the deck and round to the front of the ship, under where the search lights are. After we'd rolled him onto his side, everyone else went onto the bridge to report to Cid and Brother. Rikku just stood there looking sheepish. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Care to explain?" I asked in Spiran, with a disapproving look on my face. Sometimes I swear I should be the older cousin.

Whenever Rikku and I want to have a private conversation, we usually talk in Spiran, as not many Al Bhed can speak it fluently. Rikku had been teaching me Spiran since before I can remember, so it almost feels like our secret language.

"A fiend was attacking him! I had to help!" she argued, looking down at the floor.

I rolled my eyes. "That doesn't explain why he's here! Why'd you bring him back?"

She glanced up, still looking like a kid getting told off, which I suppose she kind of was.

"The others wanted to kill him. They thought he was a fiend disguised as a human."

I crouched down to get a better look at him. "He looks human to me." I looked back up. "How come he's passed out? Did the fiend hurt him?"

Rikku went back to looking sheepish. "Not exactly… I punched him. Hard. In the gut."

My head dropped in embarrassment at my cousin. "…Dare I ask why you felt the need to punch the guy in the gut?"

She was about the answer when Brother ran onto the deck.

"_Rikku! Suki! Get away from it!"_

He grabbed my elbow and yanked me up, practically throwing me behind him.

"_Don't call him an 'it'! He's a person!" _Rikku yelled.

I grabbed her arm. _"C'mon Rikku, let's go see Cid. He'll be worried about you."_

Rikku refused to look away from the boy. I locked eyes with Brother and he nodded. I pulled Rikku towards the door to the bridge, and she allowed me to lead her away. As the door closed over, she leaned back against the wall, pinching the bridge of her nose. I put my arm around her shoulders.

"You ok?" I asked.

She nodded but sighed deeply. "What d'you think Brother'll do to him?"

I squeezed her shoulders. "Don't worry; I'm sure he won't do anything."

At that moment, Brother walked through the door. Rikku immediately stood in front of him, blocking his path.

"_What have you done to him?" _she shouted accusingly.

Brother held his hands up in surrender. _"Nothing! Honestly, I've just got two guys guarding him for when he wakes up."_

Rikku stomped her foot in agitation. _"He doesn't need guards!"_

I laid a hand on Rikku's shoulder again. "Rikku, when he wakes up he might freak out. He'll have no idea where he is, and the last thing he'll remember is you punching him. Someone's gonna have to calm him down."

Rikku took a deep breath and nodded. Brother just looked confused. He never really picked up much Spiran.

Just as I was about to explain what I'd said, one of the guards that Brother had posted outside ran through the door.

"_The captive's awake!"_

Brother, Rikku and I walked out of the door quickly and headed towards the human who, sure enough, was sitting up, awake and alert, behind the two guards with guns.

I saw his eyes fly to Rikku, and a flash of recognition crossed his face. Then his eyes flew to Brother and then, in turn, to me. He looked pretty confused. I didn't blame him. It must be pretty weird waking up in a place you don't know, surrounded by complete strangers, most of whom don't even speak your language.

"_Search him!" _Brother demanded.

Rikku walked behind him, pulled him to his feet and patted his pockets, confirming with a nod that there wasn't anything there.

And then Rikku, the boy, the guards and I had to witness the horrific embarrassment of Brother trying to mime.

He pointed at the human, then attempted to mime diving off the boat and swimming about. It took all my willpower to not burst out laughing. I saw a smirk cross Rikku's face, but she wiped it off quickly.

"Right, whatever…" the boy muttered quietly in Spiran, sounding bored, nearly making me giggle again.

"_Do you not speak?" _Brother asked, apparently having not heard his comment.

He pulled out a pair of goggles from his pocket. He held them out to the human, tapped him on the shoulder and then pointed behind himself towards the sea, grunting the whole time.

"I said I don't understand!" he sighed.

One of the guards pointed his gun in his face. _"Insolence!" _

I nearly ran forward to stop him, but Rikku beat me to it.

"_Wait!" _she demanded, holding a hand up. Turning to the human she explained: "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful!"

He turned to her in shock. "You…You understand me?!"

One of the guards got his attention by punching him in the back.

"Alright, I'll work!" he growled angrily.

He looked up and caught my eye. I smiled, and he kind of half-smiled back. A new recruit – this could be fun!


	3. Chapter 2 - Lopsided

**DISCLAIMER: Final ****Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Sorry that I'm uploading these really irregularly, but with homework stacking up after the summer I can't really make a set day for these to go up. Anyway, hope you enjoy! Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter! Please read and review!**

Chapter 2 – Lopsided

The new guy – or 'Lopsided' as I'd started calling him in my head – was really confusing.

For all that he seemed a bit angry when Brother demanded he work on the ship, when Rikku explained the mission they were going to go on, he seemed pretty enthusiastic.

"We found some ancient ruins right beneath us!" Rikku had told him. "It's not active yet, but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down there and activate it. And then we should be able to salvage the big prize!"

"Uh huh…" 'Lopsided' said, still sounding kind of bored.

Brother and I were still on deck. Brother was still pretty suspicious of the stranger. I on the other hand was just being nosey. We had no idea who this guy was or where he come from. He _was_ pretty tanned, so my guess was Besaid: an island not too far from where we were. Rikku and I spent some time there as kids, and I knew most of the locals spent a lot of time on the beach, which would explain how he got so tan.

Rikku made up for his lack of enthusiasm ten-fold. "Ok! Let's get to work!"

The fact that he was getting time off the ship seemed to spur 'Lopsided' on.

"Rodger!" he grinned, before jumping onto the railings.

He turned and looked at me, and flashed me a thumbs-up before diving into the sea.

Rikku shook her head, presumably at his recklessness. He had no idea if there were any fiends down there, and yet he jumped right in?

Rikku looked to the bridge for the all-clear. The search lights flashed once, twice, three times. That was the signal. Rikku winked at me a Brother, before diving in after 'Lopsided'.

I leaned over the railings to watch them. Brother joined me. They both swam a little away from the ship before diving down. It wasn't long before we couldn't see them anymore; it was pretty dark already. If it's clear and the sun's out it's much easier to see the divers go down but today, they disappeared almost as soon as they went under.

I glanced over at Brother, who was still frowning at the water. I punched him playfully on the arm.

"_Quit worrying; they'll be fine. If he tries any funny business Rikku'll sort him out."_

He grunted before walking away. It was then I noticed something hanging from his hand.

"_Forget to give him the goggles?"_ I called out, grinning.

He threw them at me in frustration without even turning to look. I caught them easily and slipped them into my pocket. I'd probably end up throwing them back at him later when I got the chance.

It wasn't too long before they were back. Rikku was up the ladder even before Brother could yell that they had returned_. _I came out onto the deck to meet them.

"_How was it?" _I asked, speaking to Rikku but glancing over at 'Lopsided'.

I knew it was cruel to talk to Rikku in Al Bhed when the poor boy didn't have a clue what I was saying, but if he'd done a really bad job then I didn't want him to feel bad.

Turns out I didn't have to worry.

"He was great!" Rikku answered in Spiran. "We found the entrance to the power core and I couldn't get it open, but this guy", she pointed at 'Lopsided', "just hit it a few times and it opened right up!"

'Lopsided' blushed modestly. "Ah, it was nothing."

I grinned at him. He seemed a nice guy. "Any fiends bother you?" I asked, again directing the question at Rikku.

"Fiends?" 'Lopsided' looked confused. "Were they those monsters?"

"I'll take that as a yes then", I smiled.

"Yeah, but they weren't any trouble", Rikku smiled, patting her belt, where she stored her grenades.

"Hey! I helped too!" 'Lopsided' moaned. Rikku grinned.

"He did, to be fair", she admitted. "Guy's pretty handy with his blade-thingy."

He grinned and whipped out his sword. It looked pretty cool; it was red with a silver blade and a slit running from where the brown handle ended up to a few inches under the tip of the blade, kind of in a fish-hook shape.

"Nice…" I mused. He grinned again.

Just then some of the guards came out. Rikku went up and reported their findings.

After a few moments, they headed towards the bridge, Rikku with them. 'Lopsided' started to follow, but one of them pushed him back. _"You, outside!"_

"Hey! I helped out didn't I?" he yelled as the door closed.

"Don't worry about it", I said from behind him. He turned quickly. Apparently he didn't realise I was there.

"How come you're not in there with them?" he asked.

I shrugged. "They'll just be talking about boring, adult stuff. I'm not even sure why Rikku went in."

"Rikku?"

"The girl you went to the ruins with."

That was when I realised I didn't even know his real name, and I really had to stop calling him 'Lopsided' in my head.

"I'm Sakura. Suki for short. What's your name?"

He smiled. "Tidus"

I smiled back. "Nice to meet you Tidus"

"Likewise. Say, who's the dude with the blonde Mohawk and the tattoos?"

I rolled my eyes. "That was Brother. He's my cousin, rather unfortunately"

Tidus smirked, then started looking confused. "His name's Brother?"

I shrugged. "I didn't name him!"

He grinned. "So, how come he didn't understand me?"

I had turned to look out at the water again, my back to Tidus. "Oh, Brother never really picked up Spiran. He only speaks Al Bhed. Most of the guards only speak Al Bhed too. Sorry about that."

I turned back to him, and I can honestly say I've never seen a more confused face in my entire life. He opened his mouth and all that came out was, "…Huh?"

I frowned. "You're not an Al Bhed hater, are you?"

He slowly shook his head. "I don't even know what an Al Bhed is"

My eyes widened. How could this guy not know who we were? I thought maybe he was joking, but his look of confusion looked genuine.

"…You're being serious, aren't you?" I didn't want to sound degrading, but I honestly couldn't believe it. Where in Spira had this guy been?

He nodded, looking pretty sheepish.

"Ok…." I hesitated before walking over to him. "Well, I guess the main difference between us and humans is the language…"

He held his hand up to stop me. "Wait wait wait… You guys aren't human?!"

"There's not much difference!" I said, getting defensive.

He held his hands up. "Sorry! It just sounded kind of weird when you put it like that."

"Yeah, fair enough", I smiled. "Sorry"

He smiled back and motioned for me to carry on.

"So yeah, we have our own language, although some of us speak your language too. The other main difference is this." I pointed.

Tidus frowned. "Your eyes? They don't look any different."

I stepped towards him so he could get a closer look. He squinted, then his eyes widened. "Oh."

I had kind of guessed that his reaction would be something like that. Our eyes are pretty weird. Our pupils aren't black dots like human's are, they're swirls.

I had expected the surprise, but not what came next.

"They're so cool! What else is different about you?"

I blinked in surprise. "Um…well everyone's eyes are green. Our hair grows faster than human's too." I tugged on my dirty-blonde hair, about the same colour as Tidus'. "And we're usually better at working machina and computers than humans are."

Tidus grinned. "Apparently you're modest too."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Just then Rikku came back out of the bridge with a tray of food. When Tidus saw it his blue eyes lit up. He bounded over to Rikku, snatched the tray off of her, sat on the deck and started scoffing it down. Rikku grinned at me.

"_So what've you two been talking about?" _she asked, coming over to lean against the railings next to me.

"_His name's Tidus. __He didn't know who the Al Bhed were, so I was explaining it to him."_

Rikku looked as confused as Tidus had, but I didn't have a chance to go into more detail because Tidus started choking.

We both ran over to make sure he was ok. He grabbed a water canister off of Rikku's belt and gulped it down. She rolled her eyes and crouched next to him. "It's cause you eat too fast."

He glared at her between gulps.

"So where're you from anyway?" I was curious about where he could live that he wouldn't know about us Al Bhed, unless he'd lived under a rock his whole life.

"Zanarkand. I'm a blitzball player" He got up and mimed kicking a ball. "_Star_ player of the Zanarkand Abes", he boasted.

Now it was my turn to look confused along with Rikku.

"…Did you hit your head or something?" Rikku asked, standing back up.

Tidus walked back over to us. "Um, you guys hit me?"

Rikku grimaced at the memory. "Oh right…"

I smirked before turning back to Tidus. "Do you remember anything before that?"

Tidus slowly walked over to the edge and leaned on the railings, looking out at the water. Rikku and I walked over to him. He refused to look at us. I rested my hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." I said softly.

He looked up at Rikku and me, and he had the strangest look on his face: sadness mixed in with loneliness, but despite of that, he shook his head. "No, I want to tell you guys. I need to tell someone…"

I glanced over at Rikku, and she looked as concerned as I felt. What had happened to this guy?


	4. Chapter 3 - Memories of the Past

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm so sorry that this took so long! Blame school and homework :-D Hope you enjoy this! Please read and review.**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

Chapter 3 – Memories of the Past

This was the definition of an awkward silence. Tidus hadn't spoken in three minutes, and Rikku and I were trying to not stare at him.

"Ok, I've got an idea", I started. Tidus and Rikku looked up at me, both desperate for the silence to be broken. "Why don't you ask us something?"

Tidus frowned. "I thought I was meant to be telling you guys stuff."

"And that's really working well isn't it?" I grinned.

Rikku and Tidus both smiled.

I figured that Tidus was one of three things: he was either making it up that he was from Zanarkand, he was crazy and thought that he was when he really wasn't, or somehow, he really was from Zanarkand, maybe even a Zanarkand from another world - seeing as he hadn't known about Al Bhed - and although that wasn't likely, it was still a possibility. So I figured that he'd want to know stuff about where he now was.

"Well…how old are the two of you?" Tidus asked. "You both look a little young to be working, or are child labour laws different for the Al Bhed?"

Rikku grinned. "It's not different, it's just cause my father runs the ship. I'm 15."

"And I'm 13", I chipped in.

"You two aren't sisters are you?"

I shook my head. "No, we're cousins. My mother and Rikku's father were brother and sister, but my parents died when I was still tiny, and Uncle Cid's been looking after me ever since, so we are kinda like sisters."

Tidus looked guilty. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring something like that up."

I smiled. "It's ok. I've never known anything else other than living with these idiots."

As expected, that got me a slap to the back of the head from Rikku. Tidus burst out laughing, soon joined by Rikku and me.

After a few moments of this, I turned to Tidus. "Our turn to ask a question now."

His face fell slightly, but he needn't have worried.

"How old are you?"

He sighed quietly with relief. "I'm 17."

This question-and-answer session went on for quite a while, with Tidus finding out more about the Al Bhed and us finding out more about him, all the while still leaning on the railings.

It was Tidus' turn to ask the question. "So, what's this place called?"

"What, the ship?" Rikku asked. Tidus shook his head.

"No…" Tidus looked sheepish. I got what he meant though.

"This world's called Spira. Right now we're pretty much in the middle of nowhere."

Tidus looked really embarrassed.

"I…I guess it's your turn again", he muttered.

I looked at Rikku and she nodded. I knew we had to ask this. I took a deep breath.

"Where're you from?"

"I told you, Zanarkand."

Rikku and I locked eyes again. He didn't sound like he was joking, so that ruled out one of three of my theories. Tidus walked a little away from us.

"Both times I've said that you've acted weird. What is it?" He turned his head back round to look at us. "The Al Bhed got something against people from Zanarkand?"

"No, it's nothing like that, it's just that…" Rikku trailed off.

Tidus turned back to us. "It's just what?" he asked, his voice slightly raised, his face starting to border on anger.

I stepped defensively in front of Rikku. "Don't shout at her."

"Then tell me!" he yelled, throwing his hands up in despair. "What is it about Zanarkand?"

"It's been in ruins for 1000 years!" I shouted back, Rikku practically having to hold me back so I didn't slap him.

Tidus' face quickly changed from angry to confused. He took a step back.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, frowning.

Rikku stepped forward to stand next to me. "Just that. Zanarkand was destroyed by Sin 1000 years ago. Nobody lives there anymore."

Tidus started shaking his head before Rikku finished speaking. "That doesn't make any sense. I saw Sin destroy Zanarkand. You're saying that happened 1000 years ago? No way!"

I stepped between them again. "Look, just start from the beginning", I said to him, trying to calm him down. "We won't interrupt you till you're finished."

Tidus nodded slowly. "Ok…"

He walked back over to the railing, staring out to sea, looking deep in thought. Rikku and I slowly walked over to join him.

"I guess it all started before the Blitzball game", he began. "I was chatting to some of the fans, just getting them excited before game, you know." He smiled. "There were two girls who wanted an autograph. I told them I'd wave at them if I scored. They were sitting…" he frowned in concentration, "in the East block in the front row, fifth from the right. They were giggling like little kids.

"It was a really big game: the Jecht Memorial Cup" He seemed to spit out the word 'Jecht'. I wanted to ask him why, but I'd promised to not interrupt, so I made a mental note to ask about it later.

"There was a lot of pressure on us, especially on me. We were the favourites to win the game, and I'm the star player; we didn't want to disappoint the fans."

I smiled at the way he said 'star player'. It wasn't like he was bragging like he was before; it was more like he was stating fact: that everyone already knew he was the star player.

"Everyone was really revved up. I had to push past a huge crowd of fans just to get into the arena!

"It was electric before the game. The crowd were screaming like mad, and when I stood up to jump in they screamed even louder." He smiled again. "Everyone loves Blitz in Zanarkand."

I smiled yet again. It wasn't just people from where Tidus was from. I didn't know anyone who didn't love Blitzball. Our team, the Al Bhed Psyches, usually do quite in the underwater ballgame, and Rikku, Brother and I always try to get to Luca any time they get to the final.

"I'd just shot out of the water after the ball to slam it into the goal. I was flipping upside-down, when I saw…it looked like a huge wave rising over the city, but with some kind of…balls of dark energy or something shooting out of it.

"The energy balls stared destroying the city, and the giant wave was causing a flood. I managed to grab onto one of the railings of the arena, but I couldn't hold on."

By this point my eyes were wide and my mouth had dropped open. Rikku must have looked the same, because Tidus stopped his story suddenly. "Don't worry, nobody was hurt. Miraculously"

I unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. I have a habit of getting too involved in other people's stories.

Tidus carried on. "I found myself outside the arena. Everyone was screaming and running scared. That's when I saw Auron."

Seeing out confused faces, he explained. "Auron's a friend. Well, I guess you could call him that. He's seemed to always be there, looking out for me. He's a good guy.

"Anyway, he was standing outside of the arena too. Said he'd been waiting for me." He shook his head. "Sometimes I don't understand that man.

"I followed him to one of the bridges when suddenly, everyone stopped moving. Not like they just stopped running, but they literally froze where they were. It was like time stopped or something. The only people I could see still moving were me and this little kid who appeared out of nowhere. The kid said something, I can't remember what, then suddenly disappeared and everyone started moving again.

"I literally had no idea what was going on, or where I was going. I saw Auron at the end of the bridge, and started running towards him, when I realised that I was running in the direction that everyone else was running away from!

"I yelled Auron that we were going to wrong way, when he told me to look up. That's when I properly saw Sin for the first time."

I involuntarily shivered at that word. Sin. That monster was responsible for everything that was wrong with Spira. I had never seen it myself, and I sincerely hoped I never would.

"It was…hideous. It was huge and had these weird tentacle things, and it was shooting out little black blobs. They landed in front of me and Auron and turned into monsters. I tried to swat them away, but that didn't work very well, as I'm sure you can imagine. That's when Auron gave me the sword I showed you. He told me…" he looked away, his voice tinged in anger, "…he told me it was a gift from Jecht. My old man."

That answered a few questions right there. So, apparently Tidus wasn't a big fan of his father. And seeing as the blitzball tournament was called the Jecht _Memorial_ Cup, it seems his father was dead. So how did the Auron guy have a present for Tidus from him? Had he known Jecht before he died? I really wanted to ask all these questions, but I held my tongue. Tidus wasn't finished yet.

"We cut through most of the monsters, fiends did you call them?" he asked Rikku, and she nodded, "but they just kept coming. I tried to make Auron turn back but he just kept running ahead. He said we were 'expected' whatever that meant.

"We came to a huge group of fiends, and it didn't look like we'd be able to get through them. There was a weird electric thingy, and Auron got me to whack it a few times. I did, and it fell over the side of the bridge and exploded, which made a huge building fall onto the bridge, crushing the monsters, and nearly crushing us too.

"We had to jump off the bridge quickly cause there was a bunch of other explosions. I tried to jump onto another platform, but there was another blast right under me. I lost my footing and ending up dangling by my fingertips again. Auron was standing over me, but he wasn't pulling me up for some reason. There was some weird portal-like thing hovering over the city, and it was sucking up some of the taller buildings. I was pulling myself up, and Auron was looking up at it. I think he said something, but I couldn't hear what.

"He leaned down and grabbed my collar, pulling me up. 'This is it', he said. 'This is your story. It all begins here.' Then…" he looked down again, with a pained look on his face. "Then we both got sucked in.

"I thought about a lot of things", he admitted. "Like where I was, and what I'd got myself into. I started to feel light-headed…and then, sleepy. I think I had a dream; a dream of being alone. I wanted someone – anyone, beside me…so I didn't have to feel alone anymore." He was starting to look embarrassed, like he'd said more than he'd meant to.

He looked up at us again. "I woke up in the ruins you guys found me in. Nothing much happened till you did." He stood up properly and stretched. "That's pretty much it."

Rikku and I glanced at each other. I could tell we were both thinking the same thing.

"Did I say something funny?" Tidus asked, noting our look.

"You were near Sin!" Rikku stated, as if that explained everything.

"Uh huh…" Tidus frowned, clearly not understanding what she was saying.

She smiled up at him. "Don't worry; you'll be better in no time."

Tidus still looked confused, so I explained, "They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe the whole thing was a dream, not just the bit after Sin sucked you up?"

"You mean I'm sick?" he frowned.

I nodded. "Because of Sin's toxins, yeah."

"You think?"

"Yeah", Rikku agreed. "Like Suki said, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed 1000 years ago. So no-one plays Blitzball there."

Rikku walked away from the railings and stretched her arms above her head. Tidus stayed where he was, looking down and frowning. I bit my lip, trying to think of something to say. Luckily, Rikku came up with something.

"If you play Blitzball, you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognise."

"Luca?" Tidus clearly wasn't familiar with the name.

"Uh…." Rikku hung her head in distain.

She started pacing around the deck, clearly trying to think of a solution. I turned round to lean my back against the rails, watching her. Suddenly, her face lit up. She trotted over to Tidus and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Don't worry", she said, a big smile on her face, gesturing to me and herself, "we'll get you to Luca. Promise."

I grinned too and nodded in agreement. Tidus didn't look too convinced. Rikku put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, pretending to be annoyed.

"You'd rather stay here?" she asked, trying to hide her grin and failing.

"Nuh uh!" Tidus said without missing a beat, turning round to face her properly.

She nodded. "Ok, I'll go tell the others. You wait here."

She turned round to walk away, her blonde hair, scrapped up in a high ponytail bouncing about as she walked, before she stopped and turned back round.

"Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, 'k? Yevon says it's a holy place; you might upset someone."

"Oh…uh huh", Tidus agreed, clearly not really understanding what she said.

Rikku turned her back to us and went through the door to talk to Brother and the others. Tidus looked over at me.

"Yevon?" he simply asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't get me started on Yevon", I sighed. Tidus got the idea and didn't ask any more questions.

He looked down at the deck, his face thoughtful. I bit my lip again. I'm not too good in these kinds of situations; I'm always scared I'm going to say something wrong.

"Are you thinking about what Rikku told you?" I asked dumbly. What else would he be thinking about?

Tidus nodded, seemingly oblivious to my stupidity. "It's just…my Zanarkand? Some kind of 'holy place'?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Yeah right…Since when?"

"It must be a lot to take in", I sympathised. He nodded again, walking towards the door to the bridge and leaning against the wall next to it.

"Yevon, Sin, Luca?" He sighed. "I thought Sin just took me to a faraway place - that I could get back in a day of two – but 1000 years into the future?" He pushed himself off the wall, holding his head in his hands. "No way!"

He gritted his teeth, whirled round and kicked the wall.

At that moment the whole ship, and this is a huge ship remember, tilted harshly to one side. Tidus and I both lost our footing and tumbled down the deck, crashing into the railings.

"What the…" I started, but I never got to the end of my sentence.

Because at that moment, about 50 metres away, Sin erupted out of the sea.


	5. Chapter 4 - Trust in a Stranger

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Again, I'm really sorry that this has taken so long! I've had four tests at school this week [and failed one of them :-( ] I'm going to try really hard to get a chapter up every week, but I can't make any promises. But I will try my best *determined face while the FF victory theme plays in the background***

**Two other things: For anyone who likes Vocaloid, I recently posted a Vocaloid fanfiction. Even if you don't know what Vocaloid is, you'll still be able to understand the story; you don't really need to know any background information to read it. I'm not review-hunting, but I really do want feedback on it. It's my first one-shot and I'd really like to know what people think about it. Thanks in advance!**

**Secondly, this chapter is dedicated to AnimeFreak818. I was, to be honest, being quite lazy about this chapter. I just couldn't get motivated to start the chapter. Then, I was walking to school and I got an email from saying that AnimeFreak818 had added this story to their favourites list. That really gave me the motivation I needed to start this chapter, so a big THANK YOU to AnimeFreak818!**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Trust in a Stranger**

There was a 50 foot tall jet of water showing us where Sin was, and it was making its way ever closer to the ship.

Every muscle, every nerve, every fibre of my body was telling me that I should run, that I should get off the deck as fast as I could, but I couldn't move. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the creature that I was sure would end my life right there and then.

Members of the salvage team ran about screaming.

"_Sin! Sin is come!" _

"_Under us! Under us!" _

I felt a tugging on my arm. I tore my eyes away from the water and looked up at Tidus who was trying to drag me away from the side of the ship. As I allowed him to pull me to my feet, our eyes met. He looked as terrified as I felt.

I remembered that he had said he'd seen Sin before; that he said he'd witnessed first-hand the destruction brought in its wake, and I realised that he must have thought that the ship was going to be destroyed just like his home had.

I gripped his hand tightly, more for my own comfort than his. I'd only known him ten minutes but at the moment he was all I had, and Rikku and Brother were nowhere to be seen.

Sin rammed the side of the ship again, this time causing a huge wave to sweep over the deck.

It swept Tidus and me right off the ship and into the sea.

I tried to scream, but all I got was a mouthful of water. I felt Tidus' hand slipping from mine.

The last this I saw before the darkness closed in on me was Brother and Rikku leaning over the railings, desperately reaching down to try and pull me back up.

They didn't.

* * *

My face felt warm, but my back and the backs of my legs felt cool. I could hear a muffled noise filling my ears; it sounded like the noise you hear when you press a seashell up against your ear, but I swore I could hear seabirds too.

I opened my eyes before squeezing them shut again, the bright light hurting my eyes. I opened them again, slower this time, giving them time to adjust. The sky above me was blue and clear of clouds, the occasional gull flying lazily overhead.

I tried to stand up, but clumsily fell over and got a face-full of salty water.

I stood up again, keeping my balance this time. I was standing in shallow water, only up to my waist. I pulled the hood of my dive suit off, allowing my shoulder-length dirty blonde hair to fall down around my face. I tucked a few loose strands behind my ear and looked around. There was an island not too far away from where I was standing. I grinned widely; I recognised that island: Besaid, the island where Rikku, Brother and I spent our summers when we were children, the island I first thought Tidus was from.

Wait…Tidus!

I scanned the sea around me, looking for him. His bright yellow jacket wasn't hard to spot.

I quickly swam over to him. He was face down in the water, curled up in a ball. I momentarily panicked, fearing the worse, but my panic was quickly soothed when I remember he was a Blitzball player; Blitz players can hold their breath for ages.

I shook his shoulder and he immediately jolted up, awake and alert. He treaded water and spun around wildly. He didn't seem to notice I was there until I grabbed hold of his shoulder again. His eyes were wide and scared-looking.

"What…what happened?" he asked, before his a look of remembrance grew in his eyes. "Sin…"

I nodded, and he looked around worryingly. "Rikku?" he frowned and I shook my head. His face fell.

That's when Tidus got wacked in the back of the head with a blue and white ball.

I sniggered and twisted round, trying to see who threw it.

There was a group of six tanned guys standing on the beach watching us. One of them, a tallish guy with orange hair held off his face with a blue sweatband, was waving his arms about, presumably meaning that the ball was his.

Tidus shook his head as if he was dazed, before noticing the ball beside him.

"Blitzball!" he said joyfully, and I couldn't help but smile. If his story was to be believed, this would've been the first recognisable thing he'd seen since washing up in the cave that Rikku found him in.

"Hey! You ok?" the orange-haired guy called.

Tidus waved back at them. "HEY!" he called, before diving under the surface of the water.

I grinned and swam backwards, pretty certain of what he was going to do.

And I was right. Positioning himself directly under the ball, he shot up from the water, launching the ball into the air, about ten metres up, before quickly flipping upside down and slamming the ball towards the beach with his foot, diving back into the water as he did so.

I whooped and clapped, grinning my head off at seeing him so happy and carefree, doing the thing he loved most.

The ball whizzed past the orange-haired guy's head, just narrowly missing him. He turned back to face us with his mouth hanging open in shock, before splitting into a grin.

We both swam over and dragged ourselves out of the water. The orange-haired guy had turned around to talk to two other people, both of whom turned and headed up a path as he walked back towards us, while the other Blitz players gather around us.

He looked both of us up and down, a hungry looking coming over his face when he regarded Tidus.

"Yo…" Tidus smiled nervously.

I tried to be a bit more confident. "Hiya!"

The orange-haired guy (I have to stop calling him that in my head! I'm presuming he's the leader of their Blitz team, so I'll call him the leader from now on) nodded at me before looking back at Tidus.

"You wanna…try that move…one more time?" he asked apprehensively.

Tidus looked shocked, before grinning widely and punching the air.

The rest of us stepped back while he repeated the move, this time on land, striking the ball across the water.

All six of the Blitz players were once again staring open-mouthed, and I was once again grinning my head off.

The leader folded his arms across his chest. "You're no amateur. Who d'you play for?"

I grimaced, but before I was able to attempt to warn him how stupid he'd sound, he happily stated, "The Zanarkand Abes!"

Everyone looked shocked, understandably, and I face-palmed.

"What team did you say again?" the leader asked, his face confused.

Tidus' eyes widened when he realised what he'd said. "Uh…I meant…"

He looked over at me, and I circled my finger next to my head, hoping to get the message across to him, and luckily it did.

"Forget that", he said, trying to backtrack, "I…uh…got too close to sin and…my head's all foggy-like."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Some of the Blitz players still looked a little apprehensive, but most of them seemed to accept his excuse.

"So…" he continued, "I don't know where this place is."

I smiled at how he'd slipped that in there; he didn't know anywhere in Spira but he obviously couldn't just _ask_, cause people would think he was insane.

The leader shook his head sadly. "Sin's toxins got to ya…" He unfolded his arms, a smile forming on his face. "But, you're still alive. Praise be to Yevon."

Then he and the rest of the Blitz players took one step back, swung their arms behind their back and brought them back to their stomachs, cupping their hands like they were holding a small sphere, brought their left leg back forward to meet their right leg, and bowed at the waist.

I bit my lip and sighed quietly. That was the prayer of devotees of Yevon. If these guys were Yevonites, chances are they wouldn't be very big fans of me. Yevonites generally don't like the Al Bhed because we disagree on quite a few things, but these guys seemed really nice; I didn't want them to hate me.

The leader turned back to the rest of the team. "Alright, back to practise!" she said, shooing them away with his arms.

He high-fived Tidus and they both grinned.

"I'm Wakka", he smiled. "Coach _and_ captain of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda."

"Name's Tidus. And…I'm not really sure about anything else", he shrugged.

I tried not to smirk, knowing that he was lying through his teeth. Tidus, in his head anyway, was perfectly sure about who he was and where he was from, but I knew I had to play along.

Wakka turned to me. "And you are?" he asked kindly.

I smiled. "Sakura. Suki for short. I'm from Bevelle."

I sniggered to myself. As an Al Bhed, Bevelle, the capital of the religion of Yevon, was the least likely place I'd be from. An Al Bhed seen in Bevelle would most likely be kicked out of the city, or that was what was told anyway. Uncle Cid told me that it wasn't unknown for an Al Bhed found wandering around in Bevelle to be held prisoner. There was rumours of hidden dungeons and mazes under the temple in the city where people who spoke against the almost world-wide religion ended up.

Tidus looked confused from the unfamiliar name of the city, but I shot him a look that said, 'I'll explain later'.

Wakka gave me a high-five too. "Good to meet ya both."

Just then, Tidus' stomach started rumbling. He looked embarrassed, and Wakka laughed.

"What, you hungry?" he asked, and we both nodded eagerly.

He rubbed his hands together. "Okay, back to the village. I'll get ya something."

With that he turned and headed up the path in the same direction as the other two guys had gone earlier. As Tidus and I followed him, he quietly asked me questions.

"So, what was with you lying back there?" he asked.

I sighed. "You saw that bow thing they did?"

He nodded and frowned, as if he thought he'd seen it somewhere before but couldn't quite remember where.

"Well, that was the prayer to Yevon, and people who believe in Yevon generally don't like the Al Bhed."

"How come?" he asked, a concerned look on his face.

I shrugged. "Just a difference in opinions I guess. They say that some stuff that we do is wrong according to Yevon, but it's not like what we do hurts anyone."

"What kind of stuff d'you mean?"

"We used machina that they claim are forbidden. That's pretty much all though." I sighed. "I don't know why they hate us so much because of something as stupid as that."

Tidus smiled and playfully punched me on the shoulder. "If it helps, I don't hate you. Or Rikku or the rest of the Al Bhed. Although…" he said thoughtfully. "Brother might be another story."

I laughed. "I don't blame you there. But…" my face fell slightly, "you might not want to be honest about how you feel about us. Most people won't agree with you, and I don't want people to hate you because of me."

Tidus looked like he wanted to ask something else, but he didn't. He just smiled sadly. I smiled back, but I had a feeling that this wouldn't be the end of the conflict over my culture.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed this! Exploring Besaid next time; maybe we'll meet some more much loved FFX characters next time! *cough*summoner*cough* ;-P**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**


	6. Chapter 5 - Confirmation

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just to let you guys know that I won't be able to upload another chapter for about two weeks. I'm away to London during half term (WOOT!) and I'm not taking my laptop with me. Sorry! **

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Confirmation**

Tidus was very quiet on our walk up the hill after our conversation about what people think about us Al Bhed. Apparently Wakka had noticed too.

"You two're awful quiet back there. You okay?" he asked, turning his head.

"Actually…" Tidus started, causing us all to stop walking and Wakka to turn around.

"What's up brudda?" he asked, looking concerned.

"Um…it's true Zanarkand was destroyed, right? 1000 years ago? So it's just a big pile of rubble now, isn't it?"

I sighed. Poor Tidus, he still couldn't believe his home was no more; he didn't _want_ to believe it.

Wakka nodded gravely. "Long time ago, there were a whole lotta cities in Spira, _big_ cities, with machina, machines, to run 'em. People played all day and let the machina do the work. And then, well, look", he gestured around to the land raised up around the beach.

I'd seen the ruins scattered over the headlands when I'd been here as a child, but I'd never realised what they were. My eyes widened in realisation.

"Sin…" I murmured, and Wakka nodded grimly.

"Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities and Zanarkand along with 'em. Yeah, that was about 1000 years ago, just like you said."

He shook his head at the ruins, and my gaze fell on the other Aurochs team members who we could see practising down on the beach through a gap in the trees. "If you ask me", Wakka continued, "Sin's our punishment for letting things get outta hand. What gets me though is we gotta suffer because of what some goofballs did way back when! 'Course, we must always repent for our sins, that's important." He nodded to himself. "It's just that…it's hard to keep at it sometimes, you know?"

I glanced over at Tidus and saw that his face had fallen. He'd known that Wakka would just tell him the same thing that Rikku and I had, but he still wanted it to not be true.

Suddenly Wakka burst out laughing, and hooked his arm around Tidus' neck, pulling his head down. "But you from the Zanarkand Abes, that was a good one, uh?" he grinned, before shaking his head. "Hey, I'm not saying that team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure, a team living in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?"

I started laughing too, unable to help myself, which earned me a glare from Tidus. Wakka ruffled Tidus' hair before letting him go and heading further up the path.

I punched Tidus in the shoulder as we followed Wakka. "You know he's just trying to cheer you up. He seems like a good guy."

He sighed. "I know, but it's hard to think about anything other than…" he waved a hand around in the air, gesturing all around us, "…all this. It all started with Sin."

I could see a light turning on in his eyes. "Maybe…" he started slowly, speaking quietly so Wakka couldn't hear him, "if I could find Sin one more time, I could go home."

My eyes widened. Did he realise what a stupid idea that was?!

"For now, I'll just live life till that time comes," he continued. "No more worrying about where or when I am."

He nodded to himself and ran towards Wakka without giving me a chance to respond.

Part of me wanted to run up and slap him. After what had happened to him, he should be trying to stay as far away from Sin as possible! If he really had been there when Zanarkand was destroyed, then he'd want to get away from that death and destruction, and if he hadn't been there, and he only thought he had been because he was under the influence of Sin's toxins, he'd want to stay away from it to avoid it screwing up his brain any more than it already had.

But I knew that slapping him wasn't going to help anyone, especially because I'd then either have to explain (or make an excuse) to Wakka, and that couldn't end well. So instead I ran to catch up with them and kept my mouth shut.

* * *

A few minutes later, Wakka turned off the main path and led us towards a beautiful crystal clear lagoon. As Tidus bent down to look in, Wakka slowly made his way to stand behind him. I glanced at him and he nodded towards the water, smirking. I grinned back and nodded, showing him that I got the message. I slowly joined Wakka behind Tidus, and we both simultaneously pushed him in. He screamed and splashed into the water. Wakka and I high-fived, both of us bursting out laughing. Wakka stepped back and took a running leap, diving cleanly into the water. I clapped as he surfaced.

"What's the big idea?" Tidus grumbled, but failing at keeping the smile off his face.

Wakka turned round and looked up to the top of the cliff that I was still standing on.

"You coming in or what?" he called up.

I smiled and stepped back, about to take a running jump like Wakka had, when I heard Tidus shout, "Come on Suki! You're not scared are you?"

I glared in his general direction, even though I couldn't see him from where I was standing. I took a deep breath, ran towards the cliff edge and jumped off. Spontaneously deciding to show off, I did two forward flips before diving neatly into the water right next to Tidus, sending him backwards.

"Who's scared?" I smirked when I surfaced as Wakka clapped me on the back.

"You ain't bad kid!" he announced.

We swam around the lagoon together, Tidus and Wakka diving under the water to see who could hold their breath for longer. Wakka won most of the time.

"Nice one old man!" I smiled when he surfaced a full minute after Tidus.

"Hey! Less of the 'old man', ya? 24 ain't old!" he complained.

I was about to make a comeback, when suddenly, three fish-like fiends attacked us from underneath.

"Ouch!" we all cried simultaneously. The three of us looked at each other, nodded, and dove under the water to face the fiends. Tidus whipped out his sword, and a blitzball appeared in Wakka hand.

I felt rather useless, not having a weapon. Then I remembered that Brother, being obsessed with keeping me safe, had always told me to carry some grenades with me in case I ever got attacked by fiends, but I'd never had to use them.

I grabbed one from the back of my belt. As Tidus started slicing away at one of the fiends, and Wakka began hurling his ball at another, I pulled the safety tab off with my teeth and threw it at the third, causing all three of them to explode and sent the three of us shooting back up to the surface.

"Where did ya pull that from?" Wakka exclaimed, while Tidus spluttered out a mouthful of water.

I jerked my thumb behind me. "My belt", I stated simply.

Wakka blinked. "And…why d'you have grenades exactly?"

I shrugged. "My cousin's paranoid. He makes me carry them in case fiends attack." I smiled. "Guess they finally came in handy."

I was worried that Wakka was going to ask more questions about Brother, or about my family, but instead he just smiled back.

"It's good you got people lookin' out for ya."

I nodded, trying to keep my sadness from remembrance to myself. "Yeah…it is."

* * *

We swam about for a while longer, ducking each other and fighting fiends whenever they popped up. At one point, Wakka swam under the water towards Tidus before jumping up behind him and pulling his arm round his neck again, pulling him back.

"Lemme go!" Tidus squirmed. He spotted me out of the corner of his eye. "Suki! Help?"

I grinned evilly and shook my head. "You're on your own for this one."

Wakka chuckled and turned his attention back to Tidus. "Gotta favour to ask ya."

Tidus beat him to it. "You want me on your team, right?"

Wakka let go of him and smirked as Tidus lay on his back and kicked his legs to move himself slowly backwards.

"A major Blitz tournament's comin' up". Wakka announced. "All the teams in Spira'll be there! It's so huge, I'm sure someone there'll recognise you! And, you can go back to your old team, right?"

Tidus screwed up his face like he was thinking.

"It'll be fun! What'd'ya say, ya? Come on! Come on!"

"…Sure thing", Tidus muttered, turning over onto his front and slipping under the water.

Wakka chuckled. "Our team is gonna rock, eh?" he remarked to me.

I smiled. "Heck yeah it is!" I agreed, and Wakka and I started swimming after him.

I was a little worried. Tidus didn't seem all that enthusiastic about joining the Aurochs. I knew that this was a really strange time for him, but Wakka was just trying to be helpful!

I shook my head, angry at myself. I had no right to judge Tidus; from what he'd told me and Rikku he'd been to Hell and back in the past 24 hours. I swam frantically to catch up to him. I knew I needed to act more supportive to someone who'd seen Sin's destruction first-hand, and to his own home too.

* * *

Soon after that, we pulled ourselves out of the lagoon and sat in the sun for a bit to dry off before heading back up the hill towards Wakka's village. Eventually we reached a hilltop from where we could see the village beneath us. It was a great view.

"This is where I was born", Wakka told us. "I started Blitz when I was 5. I joined the Aurochs at 13, ten years ago."

He rubbed the back of his head, looking ashamed. "Ten years, and we never won a game."

I was surprised at that, and from the look on his face, so was Tidus. From what we'd seen of them practising on the beach, they looked pretty good!

Wakka walked towards us, to where we were standing a little behind him. "Well, after last year's tournament, I quit. Time seemed right", he shrugged, and, as he started to walk back down the hill, Tidus' stomach grumbled again. I giggled as we followed Wakka.

"So, after quitting", Wakka continued, "I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I thought about the game."

"Ten years without a single win'll do that", Tidus agreed.

"Hmm…My first match last year was my big chance. But something else was on my mind", he admitted, stopping and turning to look out over the sea. "I couldn't focus."

"Nice excuse!" Tidus snorted, and I punched his arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" he exclaimed, rubbing where I'd punched him.

"Don't say stuff like that!" I hissed. "He's trusting us with this stuff! Don't disrespect that!"

"Okay, okay!" He turned back to Wakka. "Sorry man."

He shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"So you wanna win the next tournament?" I asked.

Tidus nodded. "Yeah! Go out with a bang, right?"

Wakka turned back to us and nodded.

Tidus folded his arms and frowned in concentration. "So, what's our goal?" he asked.

Wakka shrugged. "I don't care how we do, as long as we play our best. If we give it our all I can walk away happy."

I smiled at his honesty, but Tidus had a different idea.

"No no no no no", Tidus shook his head, "If I say, 'What's our goal?', you say, 'Victory!'. When you play in a Blitzball tournament, you play to win!"

His enthusiasm was infectious, and I nodded in agreement, grinning. "He's right Wakka. If you really want to go out with a bang then winning's the only way to do it!"

"Victory?" Wakka asked in bewilderment as if he'd never heard of the word. "You serious?"

Tidus nodded, and at the same time Wakka began to slowly shake his head.

"If you two are gonna argue about it, can I politely request that we get some grub first?" I offered, my stomach grumbling on cue.

Wakka smiled and nodded. "Yeah, no problem. Let's go."

* * *

As we headed down the hill, we ran into two other people; both guys, one quite a bit shorter than the other. I realised they were the same people Wakka had been talking to on the beach as Tidus and I had been pulling ourselves out of the sea.

"Ah, the two from the sea", the taller one said.

"Be on guard", the smaller one warned, "there are fiends on the road today."

"After surviving your run-in with Sin t'would be a shame if something happened now", the first man remarked.

I tried to not smirk. Who said 't'would' anymore?

They both headed back towards the village before we could say anything to them.

"Who were they?" Tidus asked, watching them go.

"Luzzu and Gatta. Crusaders," Wakka replied.

"Huh?" Tidus remarked, turning round to face Wakka. "Crus-of-what?"

I turned round too. I'd heard of the Crusaders but I wasn't really sure what they were about.

"What, you forgot that too?"

Tidus nodded, looking angry at himself, even though he obviously wouldn't know who they were.

"Hey, sorry", Wakka said, looking guilty. "Don't worry about it. I'll help you out."

"Cool", Tidus nodded. "In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup."

Wakka chuckled, before turning to me. "Suki, you know about the Crusaders I'm guessing?"

I screwed up my mouth. "Kinda…"

I was about to elaborate when Wakka stopped me.

"Well, don't say anything. Tidus can ask them himself," he grinned, and turned back to him. "They got a lodge in the village."

Tidus nodded, and the three of us headed down to Wakka's village.

* * *

**Sorry that nobody new's really come into it yet. They'll be coming soon; promise! Pleasepleasepleeeeeeease review! All comments and critisisms are welcomed!**


	7. Chapter 6 - Discoveries

**AUTHORS NOTE:** **I be back from London! Sorry this took so long to get up, but there should be a new chapter up very soon! That is all :-)**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first. **

**Blahblahblah stupid legalities :-P ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Discoveries**

Wakka's village was pretty small, with only a handful of huts scattered about with the Temple of Yevon facing us about 25 metres away, and a white circle on the ground in the middle of the village, seemingly acting as a village square (a village circle if you will), but it was adorably cute and quaint all the same.

"Besaid Village!" Wakka announced.

"They got any food there?" Tidus asked, looking around at the huts.

I smirked. "Getting your priorities right I see, Tidus", I grinned, but right on cue, my stomach grumbled. I blushed, and Wakka chuckled.

"We'll get you somethin' over there later", he said, pointing to one of the huts on our right, presumably his own hut. "Take a look around first. Let's see…the Crusaders' lodge is over yonder", he pointed to our left. "Luzzu and Gatta are usually there."

I face-palmed again. 'Yonder'? 'T'would'? Why did all these people speak old-fashioned?

Wakka clapped Tidus and I on our shoulders and began to walk away, before stopping suddenly.

"Oh right…" he muttered, turning back to us. "Over here", he hissed, motioning us back the way we came.

"What's up?" Tidus asked as we followed him back to the foot of the hill.

"You do remember the prayer, right?" Wakka asked, leaning close to Tidus so nobody passing by could hear him.

Tidus glanced over at me, and I nodded slightly. Even if he didn't think he knew the prayer, he had seen Wakka and the other Blitz players do it on the beach when we'd dragged ourselves out of the sea.

But seeing as Tidus probably didn't realise what Wakka meant by 'the prayer' he ignored my gesture and shook his head.

"You musta forgot or somthin'. Here, I'll show you", Wakka offered, and Tidus nodded gratefully.

Wakka stepped back and demonstrated the prayer he had done on the beach.

"Go ahead, you try", he nodded to Tidus.

Tidus frowned in concentration as he clumsily attempted to replicate Wakka's movement. It was…adequate, if I was being really kind. At the very least, people would be able to tell he was attempting the prayer of Yevon, even though they'd probably wonder why he was so bad at it.

Tidus lifted his head expectantly after the bow at the end, and Wakka tried to smooth out his screwed up face.

"...Not bad", he sighed slightly before turning to me. "Suki? You okay with the prayer and everythin'?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yup!" I smiled, before demonstrating.

Uncle Cid had taught me the prayer of Yevon when I was a kid. Even though we don't follow the teachings of Yevon, he said it was good manners to do the overly-gestured bow if I ever found myself in a temple or around very religious people.

Wakka nodded and clapped us both on our shoulders again, before saying, "Okay, now you two go present yourself to the temple summoner", and headed back into the village.

Tidus looked angry at himself.

"What's up?" I asked when I was sure Wakka was far enough away that he couldn't hear us.

He shook his head. "Any Blitzball player would know that prayer", he growled at himself, looking down at the floor, "It's the Blitzball sign for victory. How did I not recognise it when they did it on the beach?!"

"Hey, you had no way of knowing that what you call a victory sign is what we all call a prayer", I said, placing my hands on my hips and leaning down to look him in the eye, "Don't beat yourself up about it! It's not a big deal anyway; Wakka was fine with showing you it."

He nodded and looked back up at me. "Yeah…you're right. Thanks Suki", he smiled.

I grinned. "C'mon, let's check out the village", I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him after me.

* * *

Wakka was coming out of one of the smaller huts to our left. I turned to Tidus.

"You okay to go see the Crusaders or get some food by yourself?" I asked. "I need to go ask Wakka something."

Tidus nodded. "Yeah, no problem. But can we meet up again before we go in there?" he pointed at the temple.

"Yeah, no problem", I agreed, not really wanting to go I there myself either. "I'll meet you outside the temple in fifteen minutes, okay?"

He nodded, and walked off towards the tent Wakka had told us had food. I watched him go before running up to Wakka, who now had his back to me.

"Wakka!" I called, and he turned round.

"Suki! You okay?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just wondered if you maybe knew someone I could borrow some clothes from? I kinda want to get out of this thing", I gestured to the jumpsuit.

Wakka took in the hideously bright orange clothing. "I was wonderin' about that. Why you wearing that anyway?"

"I help my uncle on his boat, and he says I have to wear this", I said truthfully. "He and my cousin catch fish in the sea off of Bevelle."

Now _that _was a lie, but I was quite proud of how quickly I'd came up with it! Don't get me wrong kids, lying is wrong! I don't condone lying AT ALL, but in some situations that I get into, sometimes it's essential. And since I'm presuming that nobody reading this is going to face the same problems as I do, what with none of you being Al Bhed and all (or I'm guessing none of you are anyway), you shouldn't lie! EVER! Got it? Get it? Good.

"Well, give me a minute", Wakka said, before heading into one of the nearby huts.

He emerged a few minutes later with something blue folded up under his arm.

"One of my team-mates, Letty, he's got a daughter 'bout the same age as you I'm guessing. She said you can keep this," he smiled, holding out the clothing to me. "You can change in there", he pointed to the hut behind me.

"Tell her I say thanks, will you?" I asked and he nodded, before I turned and walked into the tent.

In it there was a young woman with dark skin and long black hair in two bunches over her shoulders kneeling on the floor behind a small table. She smiled up at me expectantly.

"Hello there! Welcome to my shop. How may I help you?"

"Erm, Wakka told me I could change back here?" I explained, holding up the clothing.

I expected her to be a little annoyed that I wasn't here to buy anything, but her smile didn't fade at all.

"Yes, of course that's no problem! You can change in the back."

I smiled back at her and walked behind a screen at the back of the shop.

Wakka had given me a short baby blue dress with thin black straps to hold it up over my shoulders. There was a thin _orange _belt to tie around my waist, probably Wakka's attempt at a joke, but it wasn't as hideously orange as the dive-suit. In fact, it went quite well with the colour of the dress.

As I pulled the dive-suit off, I felt a bulge in the pocket. As I slipped my hand in, I gasped. I'd completely forgotten about the goggles Brother had thrown at me until I pulled them out. My eyes started to tear up. I hadn't stopped long enough to think about it before, but I felt so alone now. Sure, I had Tidus and Wakka, but I barely knew them. For my whole life, especially since I lost my parents, I'd always had Rikku, Brother and Uncle Cid around me; I was never truly alone, but now… I had no idea when I'd see them again.

I dried my eyes and shook my head angrily. I couldn't let anyone see me like this. I didn't want Tidus or Wakka to think I was weak. So far Tidus had treated me like an equal, not like a silly little girl he felt he had to protect. I wanted to keep it like that. I could take care of myself; despite the fact Brother had always acted like he was better than Rikku and me because he was a boy, he'd always made sure we could fend for ourselves if we had to. I sighed quietly to myself. I missed him…and Uncle Cid…and Rikku…

"You okay back there?" the shop girl asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I called back.

I slipped the dress over my head and found that it came to just above my knee. Good: not too long that I couldn't run or climb in it, but not too short that people could see my underpants if I bent down.

It had a v-shaped slit with a border the same colour as the belt running from my shoulders down to my chest, and my skin was covered by a white under-shirt sown into the dress.

I tied the belt around my waist, which made the dress fit a bit better, and shoved my brown ankle boots back on. I gently pulled the black goggles over my head and let them rest round my neck, the same way Rikku has hers when she's not wearing her dive-suit.

I folded up my suit and stepped out from behind the screen. The young woman looked round and smiled.

"That dress looks really nice on you", she remarked.

"Thank you", I smiled back, "and thank you for letting me change back here."

I felt bad leaving without buying something from her, so I looked about at some of the stuff she had for sale on her table. My eyes were drawn to a simple necklace with a silver chain with a single, almost translucent blue crystal dangling from it. As I picked it up to have a closer look, I saw that there was a tiny white petal held frozen within it.

"It's a fossilised moon lily petal", the shop girl told me. "It's rather beautiful, don't you think?"

I nodded in agreement. "How much is it?" I asked, turning my attention back to her.

She shook her head. "You keep it. It may bring you luck on your journey," she smiled, before doing a kneeling-down version of the prayer.

I frowned. How did she know if I was going on a "journey"? I didn't even know for sure I was going on a "journey"! But, I smiled back at her and bowed politely, before thanking her again and leaving the shop.

There was no sign of either Tidus or Wakka, so I placed my dive-suit down for a moment and secured the necklace around my neck, making sure it didn't get tangled in the goggles.

Just then Tidus came out of the tent across from me. He jogged over to me.

"Hey. Nice dress", he smiled.

"Thanks. You get to talk to the Crusaders?"

He nodded. "They asked loads of questions, especially the younger one, Gatta. They said that if Sin had attacked us recently then it was probably nearby…"

"So they're worried it might attack the island next", I finished for him.

"Pretty much. They were surprised that it hadn't attacked it already though."

"Hmm…that _is_ kinda weird…but I guess it's a good thing, right?" I smiled. "So did you find out what the Crusaders are? Cause if you didn't, you'll have to go back and ask them yourself! I'm under orders from Wakka not to tell you anything!" I winked cheekily.

He grinned. "Don't worry, I asked. Luzzu got Gatta to tell me. He gave me the whole history, but I'll spare you the details. Basically, they've been fighting Sin for over 800 years, driving it away from and protecting the temples, towns, villages and people of Spira. Sound about right?"

"Yep. That's pretty much what I know of them too," I agreed.

Tidus frowned. "They said nobody had ever defeated Sin, but when I asked them whose job it is to defeat it, they refused to tell me. Said I should go pray at the temple and see if Yevon helps me to get my memory back." He shook his head. "I hate all this lying. I've never prayed in my life!"

I smiled sympathetically. "Well…" I started, not really sure how to continue this conversation, "…you get something to eat?"

He smiled and nodded again. "Yeah. You?"

I shook my head, and he held something out for me. He had rolled up a cream bun in a napkin for me. I grabbed it off of him, forgetting to thank him, and bit into it, the cream filling spurting all over my hands. I hadn't eaten in what felt like a lifetime.

"Looks like you're enjoying that", Tidus chucked.

I finished off the last bite and wiped my mouth and hands with the napkin, finally remembering my manners.

"Thanks Tidus", I grinning. "I needed that."

"I can see that", he smirked, ruffling my hair like a little kid.

As I grumbled and patted my hair back down, Tidus flicked at the goggles.

"Are they…"

I grinned again. "Yep. Brother's prop in his terrible excuse for a miming act."

We both started laughing softly at the memory, before turning towards the temple.

"You ready?" he asked, sounding about as nervous as I felt.

I nodded and tried to sound confident, "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

As we walked into the temple, the sound of the hymn of the Fayth surrounded us. The song resonated throughout all the temples in Spira. The story goes that the song soothes the souls of the dead, but I'm not sure if I believe that. Then again, I have always liked the hymn. The weeks and months after my parents died, Rikku sang it to me every night to get me to sleep, even though she was mourning for her own mother. The song's always been special to the two of us, although for different reasons than it is for the rest of Spira.

There were many different statues which stood around the perimeter of the temple, with different people praying to each one, and there was a tall staircase at the side furthest away from us leading up to the chamber of the Fayth.

Tidus was looking about at the statues and the beautifully decorated walls and ceiling open-mouthed. I would've bet any amount of Gil that he'd never been in a temple before in his life. This world must be so different to the one he's used to.

He walked up to one of the statues. I started to follow him then, realising who it was a statue of, I stopped myself.

"Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became High Summoner", a man standing next to the statue told Tidus.

I walked out of earshot. I didn't want to hear the story of Lord Braska again. Uncle Cid had told me the story of his brother-in-law many times already.

"What's a High Summoner?" I heard Tidus ask loudly.

I joined everyone else in the temple in turning to face him. Everyone else had looks of disbelief on their faces, especially the man who'd been talking to him.

"Erm…I…I got too close to Sin's…err…toxin", he said quickly, turning to face the rest of the people staring at him.

Everyone gasped. Some even stepped back a little. I just sighed. To me, that excuse was getting pretty old, but I knew Tidus had to keep this act up, so I didn't say anything.

"The summoners are practitioners of a sacred art", the man began, "sworn to protect the people of Yevon. Only a chosen few become summoners, who call forth entities of great powers: the Aeons. The Aeons hear our prayers and come down to us. They are the blessing of Yevon."

I was surprised at how everyone just seemed to accept that Tidus had supposedly forgotten everything because he'd gotten too close to Sin. I thought people would've had loads of questions for him. But apparently not. Maybe people were not only afraid of getting close to Sin, but also getting close to anything else that had gotten close to Sin, if that makes any sense.

Everyone who had been staring at Tidus before had now moved away, not needing to hear the story of the summoners or the Aeons again, having probably been told about them since they were children.

I didn't need to hear it again either, but I was curious as to how this man would explain things to Tidus. Uncle Cid had a very biased view of summoners, saying that all the responsibility put on them wasn't fair, but I'd never really listened to him. I figured he was just saying that because he'd been close to Lord Braska, and people's opinions of things tend to change if it's affected someone you know well.

* * *

Tidus and I stayed in the temple for a little while longer, before heading back out to find Wakka. Plus, we were both still hungry. What can I say; I'm a growing girl! One cream bun ain't gonna cut it! We found him in his hut, kneeling over a small fire which he was cooking some kind of fish on.

"Hey guys", he said when we came in. "Sorry, not time for lunch yet. Take a nap, you two looked bushed."

I had to admit, I was pretty tired, and by the huge yawn Tidus gave, so was he.

Wakka told me to sleep on his bed, and he made up a makeshift bed on the floor out of spare blankets and pillows for Tidus.

I waited until Tidus had his bed made up before I lay down on the real bed. I didn't realise how tired I was, and my eyes were soon closing on their own accord…


	8. Chapter 7 - Friends, Old and New

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Finally some new characters! Hope you enjoy this! Please read and review; all feedback appreciated!**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Friends, Old and New**

"You could at least go and see how they're doing."

"You can't interfere! It's a rule!"

This was the conversation I found myself waking up to after my nap. I opened my eyes slowly and just caught Wakka walking out of the hut behind a man in a robe who I thought I'd seen when we were in the temple.

I sat up slowly, trying to wake up properly and trying to figure out why Wakka had left. I looked down to my left and saw that Tidus was still sound asleep. I decided to leave him and go looking for Wakka myself. I carefully stepped over him, trying my best not to nudge him, and walked out of the tent.

I looked up at the sky. The sun was still up, but it was quite a bit further west than before we went to sleep. I stretched, and looked over at the temple. That's when I realised how quiet it was. I couldn't see anyone in the village or in the doorways of any of the huts.

"What's going on?"

I screamed and whirled around. Tidus was standing behind me grinning evilly. I smacked him on his arm.

"Don't scare me like that!" I screeched.

He smirked and, while rubbing his arm, looked around at the empty village.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

I nodded at the temple. "In there, I think. Should we go check?"

He nodded back at me. "Yeah, I think we'd better."

* * *

As we walked into the temple we saw Wakka talking to the other man who I'd seen leaving Wakka's hut with him at the far end, next to the stairs.

"Is something wrong?" Tidus asked Wakka as the other man walked away.

"The summoner hasn't returned from the trial," Wakka replied, looking really concerned.

"Eh?" Tidus clearly didn't understand why Wakka looked so worried.

"Well, apprentice summoner really."

Tidus still looked confused, and I bit my lip. Apprentice summoner…why did that worry me so much?

"There's a room in there called the Cloister of Trials," Wakka explained, looking up the stairs in front of us. "Beyond is where the apprentice summoner prays. If the prayer is heard, the apprentice becomes a fully-fledged summoner, remember?"

"Uh, so someone is in there somewhere and they haven't come back out," Tidus summed up, ignoring Wakka's question. "Right, I got it."

"A day's already gone by", Wakka sighed, and it felt like my heart squeezed my chest.

"Is it…dangerous in there?" I asked hesitantly.

"Sometimes, yes", Wakka answer truthfully.

"Why don't you go in and help?" Tidus asked, as if it was so simple.

"There's already guardians in there. Besides, it's forbidden."

Tidus screwed up his face before running half way up the stairs. The man in the robe and a few other people came over, seeming shocked that he would do such a thing.

"But hey, what if something happens?" Tidus asked, turning to face the rest of us. "What if the summoner dies?"

"The precepts must be obeyed!" the man in the robe cried out.

"Like I care!" Tidus sneered, running up the rest of the stairs, earning himself loud gasps from everyone who was listening, including Wakka and myself.

I'll give Tidus one thing: he's got guts.

The door to the Cloister of Trials opened and, as Tidus walked in, I found myself running after him. As the door closed behind us, he turned to me.

"What'd you do that for?" he asked. "You didn't need to get them mad at you too."

I sighed. "I know…I just…It felt like something I had to do. I'm not sure how to describe it…"

Tidus rested his hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him. He smiled in understanding and I knew he felt the same way. Neither of us was sure why we'd run in here, but we both knew we had to check if the summoner was safe.

* * *

This was starting to seem like a bit of a bad idea.

The Cloister of Trials was like a huge maze of puzzles which we had to muddle our way through to reach the Chamber of the Fayth where the summoner prayed.

Tidus and I had solved some of the puzzles already. Most of them involved taking spheres from indents in a wall and placing them in different indents in another wall depending on the type of sphere to open different doors.

For all that Tidus seemed to be slightly lacking in the common sense department sometimes, he was pretty good at solving the conundrums. I had to help him out a few times, but it was, if I'm being honest, more of his effort than mine.

"Tidus? What sphere does that stand need?" I called.

"A Besaid sphere, I think," he answered back.

There were three types of spheres from what we could figure out from the instructions seemingly projected onto one of the walls: Glyph spheres, which opened the way to the Chamber of the Fayth, destruction spheres, which opened the way to 'hidden treasures', and Besaid spheres, but it didn't say what they were for.

I pulled a Besaid sphere out of a wall and ran round to where Tidus was standing, handing it to him. He placed it into a sphere-shaped hole in a stand set against a wall, and the wall disappeared into thin air.

"Now what?" Tidus asked.

I noticed that the stand seemed to be set along a straight line on the floor.

"Does it move?" I frowned, staring at the floor.

Tidus heaved, and it slid across the floor.

I spotted a shiny spot on the floor in front of something that looked like a door, but wouldn't open when we'd tried earlier. I told Tidus to stop pushing when it reached that spot, and sure enough it started to sink into the ground.

"Nice one", I smiled, holding my hand up for Tidus to high-five me, which he did.

"Hey", we heard a voice say behind us. We turned around to see Wakka.

"What's gotten into you?" he demanded, walking over to us.

He sighed when he reached us, shaking his head. "It's okay. Only summoners, apprentice summoners and their guardians can enter here. It's a tradition, very important."

"So what about you?" Tidus asked.

Wakka folded his arms over his chest. "Me? I'm a guardian."

"So that was the 'new job' you were talking about earlier," I remarked, and he nodded.

"A guardian?" Tidus asked, looking confused yet again.

Wakka just sighed and shook his head.

Just then there was a loud rumble, and the floor beneath us started to plummet downwards.

"What the?" Tidus and I both cried out.

"Summoners go on a pilgrimage to pray at every temple in Spira," Wakka continued as if nothing was happening. "Guardians protect them."

The moving platform reached the floor beneath us, and Wakka walked off.

"The guardians in there now, one of them's got a short fuse, and who knows what the other's thinking," he said, looking worried. "Well, now that we've come this far, might as well go all the way."

As Wakka and Tidus walked towards another door, I stopped. "Hang on…is that the Chamber of the Fayth in there?" I asked. Wakka nodded.

I gasped quietly. The Chambers of the Fayth were among the holiest places in Spira. If they knew I was an Al Bhed, there was no way they'd let me anywhere close to it. Al Bhed weren't meant to be allowed in temples at all, never mind into the inner sanctum.

Tidus and Wakka were heading ever closer to the entrance of the Chamber, so I took a snap decision. I'd probably never get the chance to go into a temple again, let alone enter the Chamber of the Fayth, so I was going to go for it. I was going to go in there and just hope that nobody ever found out that I really shouldn't have been in there.

I walked quickly to catch up to them just as another flight of stairs came into sight. There was a woman in a black dress sitting on them, with her long black hair scrapped up into a high ponytail, pinned up with two chopsticks. As we got closer I saw that the front of the skirt of her dress was made up of lots and lots of black leather belts, and she had multiple necklaces around her neck, one with large purple stones prominently standing out.

As we passed through the doorway, Wakka flinched as the woman looked up at him.

"What're you doing here?" she asked coldly. "Didn't think we'd be able to handle it?"

Standing on the left of both Wakka and Tidus, I wasn't able to see him at first, but there was also a Ronso standing at the other side of the stairs, which when I eventually saw him made my heart stop momentarily.

I had never seen a Ronso before. This one was smaller than how Uncle Cid had described them. He'd said they could be seven feet tall, but this one looked about 6' 7", maybe 6' 8". He would have been taller, but his horn on the top of his head, the crowning glory of any Ronso, had its tip snapped off. His fur was blue, and he had a long mass of grey hair flowing around his cat-like face. When he spotted Tidus and me, he looked angry. I stepped back slightly, scared of this formidable frame and irritated face.

"No, it's uh…it's just…" Wakka tried to explain as the woman walked towards us.

"See?" he murmured to Tidus and me. "I told you she gets mad easy."

She walked right up to Tidus and me, looking us both square in the face disapprovingly.

"I...is the summoner alright?" Tidus asked bravely.

The woman frowned at him, and then at me. "Who are you?" she asked, not sounding very friendly.

"We found 'em washed up on the beach," Wakka answered for us. "They were attacked by Sin. Tidus and Sakura," he pointed to each of us in turn.

The woman's eyes widened slightly. She looked back at Tidus and then me again, holding her gaze on me for a while, her face softening slightly.

She turned away to look back at the door at the top of the stairs. Wakka, Tidus, myself and the Ronso (who'd remained completely silent) all followed her gaze.

A few moments later, the door slowly started to rise open. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.

A silhouette started to slowly make its way towards us. As it got closer, I could see it was wearing a long gown with long flowing sleeves, making me think it was a girl. As she walked into the light of the torches surrounding us, I could see I was right. Shoulder length brown hair and…what was that dangling beside her ear?

My heart stopped. It wasn't…it couldn't be…

She tried to walk down the stairs, but she stumbled, seeming to lose all her strength. She started to fall. Everyone gasped. Tidus jumped forward to grab her, but the Ronso beat him to it, catching her as she fell to the bottom of the stairs. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

He helped her to stand, and she smiled to reassure him, before standing back up herself, the Ronso staying crouched on the stairs in case she fell again.

She swept her hair off her face and turned to face the rest of us.

"I've done it!" she said happily. "I've become a summoner."

That's when she noticed me. Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.

"S…Suki?" she whispered.

I couldn't help myself. I ran towards her as fast as I could. The Ronso looked like he was going to stop me, but I beat him to her, running into her open arms.

"It's been a while," she murmured into my ear as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Yuna…I missed you," I smiled into her shoulder.

I turned my head slightly to see Tidus and Wakka's shocked faces.

I hadn't known for definite that Yuna, my cousin, had been training to be a summoner, but I had guessed. Ever since she was a child she had wanted to follow in her father, Lord Braska's, footsteps.

Yuna's mother was Uncle Cid and my mother's sister. Yuna was half Al Bhed, a fact which nobody else knew. If they did, she would never have been allowed to become a summoner.

As Yuna and I pulled away from each other, she smiled at me again, before heading straight into the arms of the scary woman. Tidus and Wakka were still staring at me opened-mouthed. I sighed. How was I going to talk my way out of this one…

* * *

As we walked back through the maze of corridors back to the main area of the temple (where Tidus was _not _looking forward to having to face that guy in the robe again), Wakka was still being told off by the scary woman (whom Yuna had told me was called Lulu), Tidus was staying silent, occasionally glancing back at Yuna, and visibly keeping his distance from the Ronso (named Kimahri), and Yuna and I were whispering to each other like little kids. Well, when you haven't seen each other in three years, you have a lot to catch up on!

"So, what're you doing here anyway?" she asked, after she'd been caught up on how the family was.

"Sin attacked the ship", I told her. "I got swept overboard along with Tidus."

Yuna's eyes widened. "Are you okay?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

I nodded. "Yeah, no worse for wear", I smiled.

She sighed in relief and looked up at Tidus. He'd been looking back at her again and, when she looked up at him, he blushed and looked away quickly, making both Yuna and myself giggle.

"So his name's Tidus?" she asked and I nodded. She smiled. "Where's he from?"

I bit my lip, wondering what to tell her. Out of everyone I'd met so far on Besaid, she was the one most likely to believe Tidus' story, but if we told her the truth she'd then know that the cover story that Sin's toxin was messing his head up was a lie, and I didn't like the thought of making Yuna lie to her friends.

"I think you should ask him yourself," I answered eventually, deciding to allow Tidus to make the decision about how he wanted to explain himself to her.

Yuna screwed up her face like she wanted to know now, but she nodded.

We'd finally reached the door leading back to the main area of the temple, and Yuna made her way to the front of the group. As the door opened, we saw that a huge crowd of people had gathered. It looked like the whole village was there! Yuna bowed to the crowd with the prayer before heading down the stairs towards them, Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri following close behind her. Tidus and I lagged behind at the back, not sure if we should include ourselves in their group or not.

"You okay?" I asked, noting his confused face.

He sighed. "I was just surprised, that's all. I thought summoners were all geezers."

I smirked, and Tidus smiled.

Everyone started to head outside, and we followed suit.

Outside, Yuna stood in the middle of the village square. Wakka called us over to stand next to him, dragging Tidus along backward towards the front of the crowd with me following behind them.

"Wait till you see this!" Wakka announced.

"I can't see anything!" Tidus complained, his back still to Yuna and Lulu, who had joined Yuna in the village square.

Wakka let go of him and he spun around to look at Yuna again, as if it was painful for him to look away from her.

"Ready!" Wakka called to Yuna, who now had her back to us.

She turned back to us and nodded. "Okay," she smiled.

Yuna raised her summoner's staff, with its blue handle and a gold circular design decorating the top, above her head. She brought it back down in front of her face, taking a deep breath, before raising it back behind her head.

Suddenly, white sparks starting flying down from the sky towards her staff. The stones below her started to glow and large colourful blasts flew up from the ground. Where they collected in the sky there was a bright flash, and a huge creature rocketed towards us.

I screamed. It was an Aeon, the first time I'd ever seen one. And it was _scary, _let me tell you.

It had huge orange wings which looked really out of proportion from its thin orange, red and purple body. Its head was like that of a hawk, with it's peircing eyes and razor-sharp beak, and in one of its huge claws it held a chain of four rings, two large and two small.

It sped out of the clouds towards Yuna, landing softly on the ground in front of her. She slowly reached her hand out and stroked its red feathery neck, and it seemed to calm at her touch. She turned her head towards me and smiled.

"Suki, come here", she said.

My eyes widened and I shook my head, terrified of the huge creature standing before me, but Wakka decided to be a prat and pushed me into the circle. I tried to turn round to glare at him but Yuna grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the Aeon.

As I got closer, the Aeon locked eyes with me and I couldn't look away. But all of a sudden, I wasn't afraid anymore. Although the Aeon looked frightening at first, when you looked into its eyes, it looked really scared. It didn't know why everyone was staring at it. It felt out of place and only felt safe around Yuna and, for some reason, me.

"This is Valefor," Yuna smiled. "I think she likes you. Hold out your hand."

I slowly extended my hand out towards Valefor, keeping eye contact with her the whole time. Her eyes flickered from mine to my hand, and I stopped, not wanting to move it any closer to her unless she wanted me to, still very aware that she could quite easily bite my hand off if she took it upon herself. Her eyes softened, and I knew that that was her giving me permission. I continued to stretch out my hand until it rested on her beak. I held my breath, but I knew she wasn't going to hurt me. Yuna placed her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her and she was smiling. I grinned back and turned my head towards Wakka, Tidus and the rest of the crowd. Wakka gave me a thumbs-up, and Tidus was grinning more than I was. Even Lulu had cracked a smile.

I turned back to Valefor and saw that she had closed his eyes. I smiled and gently stroked her beak. Out of all the new friends I'd made today, I would never have guessed an Aeon would have been one of them in a million years.

* * *

**Can you tell I like Valefor? :-D Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one coming soon!**


	9. Chapter 8 - Doppelganger

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm so sorry that this took so long! Stupid homework and tests :-( I promise I will try my hardest to get these up as often as I can. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please Read and Review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 8 - Doppelganger**

After a long day of people coming up to congratulate Yuna on her first summoning and of me having to explain to what seemed like every other person how I knew Yuna (we'd agreed that our cover story would be that we knew each other from childhood when my Uncle would bring me and my cousins here on vacation; partly true, but just leaving out the fact that we were related), we were now all at a party for Yuna on the beach.

Yuna had long dismissed Valefor and, for some weird reason, I missed her. Yuna noticed I looked a bit distant and nudged me.

"You okay?" she asked.

I gave myself a shake and nodded, smiling, "Yep! I'm fine."

Almost the whole village was down on the beach, except for the youngest children who had already gone to bed as it was now after dark. The beach was lit by fires scatted along the sand, some with food cooking on top of them. I could smell some kind of fish coming from the fire closet to us, and my stomach grumbled. I blushed and Yuna laughed.

I saw Tidus and Wakka approaching the rest of the Blitzball team out of the corner of my eye. Tidus didn't seem to really be paying attention. Instead, he was looking around, seeming trying to find something. Or someone. No prizes for guessing who.

The Blitz team suddenly all shouted, "To do our best!" loudly and in unison, causing both Yuna and I to jump.

I turned back to look at the Blitzball team, who Tidus was now shaking his head at. Wakka said something to them, before they all chanted, "Victory! Victory!" over and over again, gradually getting louder and louder as if they were trying to convince themselves that something was true. Apparently Tidus and Wakka had told the team what their new motto was.

Tidus looked back over in our direction, not even attempting to hide the fact that he was staring straight at Yuna. She didn't notice though; she was talking to some of the other people sitting round our fire. She took a sip of her drink and turned towards the noise that the Blitz team was still making and spotted Tidus looking at her. She smiled at him, and he quickly looked away. Yuna giggled quietly and I smiled too. I sense something in the air!

Tidus muttered something to Wakka, who nodded, and he started to walk over to us. One of the men sitting with us stood up when he saw him approaching. "You heathen!" he cried.

I turned to face Tidus, biting my lip. When we had first sat down round the fire, most of the other people there had been glaring at me. Yuna had lied for me, saying that she had wanted me to be there with her when she became a summoner, but didn't think I'd be able to get to Besaid. I had joined in by saying that when Sin had attacked my Uncle's boat and I'd been swept to the shores of Besaid, I had realised that Yuna would be trying to become a summoner and, when I hadn't found her anywhere, and had seen the crowds gathered in the temple, I'd put two and two together and realised that it must have been Yuna. They still didn't like the fact that I'd run into the Chamber of the Fayth, but they'd almost accepted it. But apparently they hadn't accepted Tidus.

"Stay away from the summoner!" an old woman shouted at him.

"You're a bad man!" a little girl yelled.

Yuna stood up, and everyone looked at her, probably expecting her to tell him to go away.

"Lady Yuna, be careful!" someone warned her.

"But…it was really my fault to begin with," Yuna said, turning away from everyone's gasps and walking towards Tidus.

I stayed sitting where I was, but turned my head towards them and listened intently.

"I'm Yuna," she smiled. "Thank you so much for your help earlier."

"Huh? Uh…I'm sorry about that," Tidus looked embarrassed. "Wasn't that…Wasn't I not supposed to…Guess I…kinda over-reacted."

Yuna shook her head, "Oh no. I was…overconfident."

I sighed. Yuna shouldn't put herself down like that. She'd managed to become a summoner; that in itself was amazing!

"Um…I saw that Aeon thing," Tidus started after a few moments of silence. "That's amazing!"

"Really!?" Yuna smiled happily, before asking, "Do you think I could become High Summoner?"

I smiled. This would be interesting; Tidus would have no idea who the High Summoner was.

But credit to him, he smiled back at Yuna and nodded.

The little girl who'd called Tidus a bad man stood up and ran towards them.

"Lady Yuna? Come play with me some more!" she said.

Yuna bent down to her height, smiled and nodded, and the girl ran back to our group round the fire.

Yuna turned back to Tidus, "So, tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow?" Tidus asked, confused, as was I.

"We're going on the same boat, aren't we?"

"Oh, really?"

I was surprised too. I hadn't really decided on what I was going to do after tonight, but getting on the boat to Luca with everyone seemed like a good idea, if they'd let me.

"We can…talk more," Yuna said.

Tidus nodded, and Yuna turned to walk away, before stopping and turning back towards him.

"You can…tell me all about Zanarkand," she smiled before walking back towards the fire.

Tidus looked shocked, but he recovered quickly enough to stare at me, looking rather annoyed. He motioned with his head for me to come over, and I stood up just as Yuna was about to sit down.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

I nodded. "Just going to talk to Tidus."

She looked worried. "Should I…not have said anything about Zanarkand?" she asked quietly.

I smiled. "Let's just say I'm probably about to get an earful."

She grimaced, but I grinned at her to let her know I was joking before walking over to Tidus.

"Did you tell her?" he hissed.

"Well…" I started.

* * *

Yuna and I were walking on the beach together before the party. She'd been asking about how Rikku found Tidus, and I was just at the part when they'd gotten back from the salvage mission.

"We talked for a while then, before Rikku came back from talking with Brother and Uncle Cid," I continued.

"What'd you talk about?" Yuna asked, listening to every little detail.

I shrugged. "Where he came from and stuff like that."

"Which is?" Yuna pushed.

I laughed. "You're not going to give this up, are you?"

She grinned and shook her head. "I'm just curious, that's all!"

I stopped walking, and so did Yuna. I looked around to make sure nobody was listening.

"Promise you won't tell anyone else?" I asked quietly.

Yuna seemed to understand, and she nodded seriously. I took a deep breath.

"He said…he said he was from Zanarkand. But not even that. He said that Zanarkand he knew wasn't in ruins. That he was from the Zanarkand before Sin attacked."

Yuna's eyes widened. "Could it have been Sin's toxins?"

"That's what Rikku thought," I told her.

"…And you don't?"

"I…I don't know," I told her honestly. "His judgment doesn't seem to be clouded, and I've never heard of Sin's toxins being this bad before. I think, somehow, what he said happened really did happen."

I looked up shyly at Yuna. "Do you think I'm crazy? That's he's crazy?"

Yuna didn't even hesitate before she shook her head. "No I don't. I believe you."

"Really?" I said, shocked. "But it sounds so unbelievable!"

Yuna nodded in agreement. "It does, but I still believe you. I'm not sure why, but I do. I don't think you're crazy, and I don't think he's crazy. If he says he's from the Zanarkand from 1000 years ago, then I believe him."

* * *

"So…she believes me?" Tidus asked.

"Yeah, of course she does!" I confirmed. "She said she wanted you to tell her about Zanarkand, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I thought maybe she was just making fun of me."

I shook my head, "Nah, Yuna's not like that. She means it."

"Well…okay then," Tidus smiled. "Thanks for telling her then."

"No problem," I grinned, and turned to walk back to the fire, sitting back down next to Yuna.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Wakka walk up to Tidus and nudge him, nodded at Yuna.

"She's cute, ya?" he asked him, raising an eyebrow.

Tidus tried to hide a smile and failed. "Yeah," he admitted.

"Don't get no ideas," Wakka warned him just as I had taken a drink, making me splutter. Way to shoot him down!

"No promises there, big guy," Tidus remarked, grinning at Wakka, "Hey, but what if _she _comes on to _me_?"

"That's not gonna happen," Wakka said, no emotion on his face, before going back to normal, "If you get tired, let me know. I got a bed made up for you."

He raised his voice, "You too Suki!"

I blushed without turning fully around. Apparently I'm not the most subtle eavesdropper.

* * *

Tidus and I had both gone to bed not long after that. Yuna, being guest of honour at the party, had to stay till everyone else left. When we left, I asked if she was going to be tired.

"Probably," she admitted, "but I can sleep on the boat tomorrow."

With that, we said good night and I headed back to Wakka's hut to go to bed.

"Not there," Wakka told us when we got back to the village, where we were automatically heading towards Wakka's hut.

He grabbed us by the shoulders and spun us around to face a hut on the other side of the village.

"You can sleep in the team's hut," he told us, pushing us towards it. "The boys'll all be down on the beach all night anyway."

"Way to make us sound like party poopers, Wakka," I remarked, and he chuckled.

Tidus and I picked beds next to each other and Wakka headed back down to the beach (As one of Yuna's guardians he had a responsibility to be there). We had planned to stay up for a while to talk, but Tidus fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

I, on the other hand, couldn't sleep, despite the fact I was pretty tired. It had been a long day, and my body needed sleep, but my brain wasn't turning off. I tossed and turned for about half an hour before Tidus gave me a heart attack by jolting bolt upright, screaming, "I HATE YOU!"

I jumped up and turned to Tidus, who was now breathing heavily.

"You okay?" I asked tentatively.

He nodded, but seemed apprehensive. He looked like he was about to say something when we both heard a voice outside of the hut.

"He's dead, okay? Dead."

Tidus and I looked at each other and frowned. We both stood up quietly and tiptoed our way to the flap of material over the door of the hut. As Tidus pulled it back slightly and we both peered out, we saw Lulu standing with her arms crossed, glaring at Wakka.

"He does look a lot like Chappu," Lulu continued, "I was surprised too, the first time I saw him. But no matter what he looks like, he _isn't _Chappu."

She was shaking her head at this point, "You shouldn't have brought him here in the first place! Him or the girl!"

"Yeah, but...he needed our help. They both did! And Yuna knows Suki!" Wakka said, attempting to defend himself and us.

"Excuses again?" Lulu asked coldly.

"Yeah, but…" Wakka started again.

"That's it. No more. Enough Wakka!" she demanded before walking off, the sound of the belts which made up the skirt of her dress clinking together.

Wakka sighed loudly, before turning towards our hut. Tidus let the curtain drop, and we stood back as Wakka came in. He grunted a bit when he saw that we were standing next to the doorway, and as he realised that we would've heard the whole conversation.

"Scary…" Tidus remarked, and Wakka nodded absentmindedly.

"So…who's Chappu?" I asked, knowing that Tidus wanted to know too.

"My little brother," Wakka answered, rather sadly. "Chappu…looked like you," he murmured quietly, turning towards Tidus.

"He's dead?" Tidus asked, although we both knew what the answer was going to be.

Wakka sighed again and walked further into the hut, sitting down on one of the beds. Tidus and I followed him and sat on the bed next to him.

"He was with the Crusaders when they…fought Sin last year," he said quietly, looking down. "…He didn't make it."

I swallowed. I'd heard about that attack a year ago. I knew that the Crusaders had lost a lot of people in that fight.

"I first heard on the day of the tournament," he continued.

"Oh. So that's why," Tidus noted, talking about when Wakka had said he couldn't concentrate on his last blitzball game.

Wakka raised his head to look at us. "I became a guardian to fight Sin, ya?" he told us.

"Revenge then?" I asked.

"That was the idea," Wakka nodded, but he didn't sound happy, and looked down again. "But…I'm more worried about a stupid game now than avenging my brother."

He looked up again and tried to smile. "Well, after the next tournament I'll be a guardian full-time."

He looked directly at Tidus. "I know it kinda looks like I'm using you, but I'm not."

"Don't worry," Tidus smiled. "I mean…I owe you a lot."

He looked over at me and I nodded. "We both do," I added. "You really helped us out."

Tidus stood up. "What we mean is…thanks Wakka," he said, holding his hand out to him.

Wakka looked up at him and it looked like he was going to shake Tidus' hand, but instead rubbed the back of his head, uncomfortable. "Stop, you're embarrassing me," he chuckled.

I laughed too and soon Tidus joined in. Wakka stood up and high-fived Tidus, and then me.

"Right then. I let you guys get some sleep," Wakka smiled.

He walked over to the door, turning as he left. "Goodnight."

"Night!" Tidus and I said at the same time.

We lay back down on our beds, rolling over onto our sides to face each other.

"So, seems you've got a doppelganger," I remarked to Tidus, and he grinned.

"Looks like it," he smiled. "I wonder what he was like…"

"Probably just like Wakka," I mused.

We talked for a little while longer, until Tidus became quiet and I realised he'd fallen asleep. I smiled, closed my eyes and drifted off.


	10. Chapter 9 - Part of the Team

**Chapter 9 – Part of the Team**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is mostly just filler; sorry! Please Read and Review anyway! **

**This chapter is dedicated to blue1bear, Joey 066 and xAyameBlackstarx.**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

The next morning I was up well before Tidus. I was making my bed up when he sat up.

"Mornin'," he muttered sleepily.

I smiled, "Hey. You sleep okay?"

He nodded, "Yeah, not bad thanks. You?"

"Good thanks. At least you didn't wake up screaming again."

Tidus looked embarrassed, and I sat down on his bed.

"What was that all about anyway?" I asked.

He sighed, "Just a stupid dream about my old man."

"Ah", I said, "That explains why you yelled 'I hate you' at the top of your lungs."

He looked rather sheepish, and I grinned.

A few minutes later we both walked out of the hut, and the first thing we saw was Wakka and Lulu standing in the centre of the village, looking at us. I gulped.

"Uh oh..." I mumbled, and Tidus nodded in agreement.

"Guess we'd better go see what they want," he said, starting to walk towards them, leaving me to catch up.

"Hey sleepyheads!" Wakka called as we got closer.

I spotted that Wakka was holding something behind his back, but all I could see of it was a light brown handle.

"Something I wanna give ya," Wakka smiled at Tidus, and held it out.

"Whoa!" Tidus cried, and I whistled in approval.

It was a beautiful sword. It was blue and long, with the short, light brown handle I'd seen already. It was the same shade as the sea; parts of it almost looked like it was made out of bubbles.

"You're giving this to me?" Tidus checked as Wakka handed it to him.

"Ya. Use it well," Wakka told him.

Tidus grinned widely and tried a few practise swings.

"That's the sword you gave Chappu."

Tidus and I whipped our heads round to face Lulu. This had been Wakka's brother's sword?

"Well…he never used it," Wakka said not turning around.

After a few rather awkward moments of silence, Wakka asked, "Where's Yuna?"

Tidus' ears pricked up. "We're taking the same boat as Yuna, right?" he asked before Lulu could answer Wakka. "Why do we gotta wait here?"

I tried and failed to hide a giggle at his obvious eagerness, and he glared at me.

"Yuna came to this village ten years ago, when the last Calm started" Wakka started to explain.

"The Calm?" Tidus asked.

Wakka ignored the question. "Since then, she's been like a little sister to me and Lulu. But she had the talent. She became an apprentice. Now, today, she leaves as a summoner."

"This is our journey," Lulu continued. "We should leave together."

We heard a loud 'clunk' and we all turned our heads towards the temple. Yuna was dragging a large suitcase behind her at the top of the temple stairs.

"You really don't need all that luggage!" Lulu called as Yuna stood up straight.

"Ah…they're not really my things," Yuna replied in her defence, "They're gifts for the temples we're to visit."

"This isn't a vacation you know," Wakka said, sounding very serious.

"I guess…I guess you're right," Yuna said rather sadly.

I sighed quietly as Yuna walked towards us, leaving her suitcase on the temple steps. As much as Yuna seemed to be excited about being a summoner, sometimes she did seem pretty sad about it.

"Okay, off we go!" Wakka said as Yuna came up to us, and the five of us headed out of the village. Well, four of us did. Yuna stopped and turned to face the temple. I stopped and waited for her as she bowed to the temple. She stood back up straight and looked at the temple for a few more moments before turning back towards the rest of us. She stopped next to me and tried to smile, a few tears sparkling in her eyes.

"Saying goodbye?" I asked, and she nodded silently, wiping her hand over her eyes.

I gave her a hug and she smiled bravely. "Right, let's go."

We walked quickly to catch up to the others. When we did, Tidus pulled me back.

"What's up?" I asked.

He pulled out his red and silver sword. "I want you to have this," he said, holding the handle out towards me.

My eyes widened. "But…I thought it was a gift from your dad," I said.

He shook his head and pressed the handle into my hand. "Take it," he said determinedly.

I reached out tentatively and took hold of the sword. Tidus smiled.

"Let's be honest, Brother would hate me even more that he already does if I don't help you out from time to time," he grinned.

I smiled back at him. "Thanks Tidus."

* * *

While walking towards the dock we got ambushed by fiends more than once.

Tidus and Wakka took on the first one, a weird large cat-like creature.

"Here comes one now!" Wakka called when he spotted it.

He turned to Tidus and grinned, "Hey, how 'bout you try out that sword I gave ya?"

Tidus grinned back and turned to face the fiend. He whipped out the blue sword and Wakka got out his blitzball. Lulu, Yuna and I stayed back, letting boys be boys. Tidus jumped forward and slashed down on the fiend, causing it to vanish immediately, the only remnants remaining being the small white lights that flew up into the sky before disappearing.

"No problem!" Tidus boasted.

"Not too shabby!" Wakka agreed. "You kept up with him pretty well. You might make a good guardian some day!"

Before he could say anything another fiend appeared, this time a bird-like one with a round blue body and pale orange wings.

"A flier!" Wakka exclaimed. "My kind of customer!"

He lobbed his ball at it and it too disappeared.

"Nice one you guys!" I called out, and they both turned and smiled.

It wasn't long before we were ambushed again, this time by a small blue blobby thing.

"That…looks like trouble," Wakka muttered.

"Ha! Watch this!" Tidus called out, cocky.

Lulu shook her head pityingly as Tidus attempted to slash at the fiend. His sword pretty much bounced off the blue blob.

"Told ya!" Wakka said. "Only magic can beat that thing. If ya can't beat them down, you gotta use magic of the element they don't like."

"Magic? Element?"

Apparently they didn't use magic in Tidus' Zanarkand.

"Let's have our black mage show you what I mean," Wakka said, nodding to Lulu. "Lu, you're up!" he called to her, and she walked over.

"Clueless, aren't you?" she sighed, a moogle doll appearing in her hand. "Good thing I'm here."

"What's with the moogle?" I whispered to Yuna.

"It channels her magic when she casts really powerful spells," she answered.

"Spells of ice work well against fire fiends," Lulu was explaining, "and ice fiends are weak against fire magic. You follow?"

"I get fire and ice," Tidus nodded.

"You get lightning and water though?" I called to him.

He immediately looked confused. "Lightning and water?"

"Lightning and water are opposed, just like fire and ice," Lulu explained, amazingly patient. "This one here is a water fiend, which means…"

She lifted her left arm above her head, and the air around her started to glow blue. She brought her arm quickly down, and a lightning spell blasted the fiend, destroying it.

Yuna and I clapped. "Nice one Lu!" Wakka grinned, and Lulu tried and failed to hide a small smile.

* * *

It wasn't long after that that we reached the hill that Wakka, Tidus and I had stood on when Wakka had told us about the Blitzball team. Lulu stopped and looked down at the village. Yuna walked over to join her.

"Take your time," Lulu said quietly.

Yuna looked over at her and smiled her thanks, before turning her head back towards the village.

"Let's get going, man!" Tidus called, and I kicked him in the shin.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Give them a few minutes, idiot," I hissed.

Wakka nodded in agreement. "We're gonna wait," he said quietly.

"Huh?" Tidus said, confused.

Just then, Yuna walked back over to us.

"Are…you ready?" Wakka asked.

"Hm," Yuna nodded, walking past us silently. Tidus stared after her.

Lulu walked over, and she and Wakka nodded to each other before following Yuna.

"What's…going on?" Tidus asked, still confused.

"Think, guy," I answered. "Yuna's lived her for as long as she can remember. She'll want to say goodbye to the place."

Tidus frowned. Clearly he didn't understand what Yuna was going through. Then again…

"If you could've said goodbye to Zanarkand, wouldn't you have?" I asked.

He sighed quietly. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted.

I clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go," I said. He nodded and we followed the other three.

On the other side of the hill-top was a kind of shrine; a tall metal structure which looked kind of like parts of the ruins of the ancient city that we'd seen scattered on the cliffs at the beach.

Wakka was kneeling down at the base of the shrine. Tidus and I walked over. Wakka saw us out of the corner of his eye.

"It's an ancient custom," Wakka explained without us having to ask anything. "People leaving the island pray here for a safe trip. Chappu…didn't pray that day. Said he'd miss his boat."

I bit my lip. Poor Wakka…

I heard footsteps behind us, and I turned to see Lulu standing behind us, with Yuna on her knees a little further back from the shrine, praying.

Tidus looked slightly uncomfortable, like he was trying to decide whether to pray or not. I nudged him and nodded, smiling. He nodded back, but still looked a little unsure. I did the bow of the prayer first and Tidus followed my lead. Once we were finished and had stood up straight, Wakka stood back up.

"That should do it," he said, and we all headed back down the other side of the hill.

* * *

Soon after that we were walking under some of the ruins a little further down the road. Suddenly, an incredibly loud roar filled the air. I looked up quickly and saw a flash of dark blue before Kimahri Ronso landed right in front of Tidus, causing him to leap backwards. Kimahri growled before roaring right at Tidus, a large spear appearing in his giant paws. Tidus pulled out his sword and they clashed violently. I started to run forward to help, but Wakka held me back.

It didn't last long, as when Tidus looked on his last legs, Wakka called out, "That's enough!"

He walked over to Tidus, patting Kimahri on the shoulder as he passed. Kimahri turned and walked off.

"What's with _that _guy?" Tidus asked angrily.

"Kimahri Ronso," Lulu told him. "Of the Ronso tribe. He's learned the fiend's way of fighting."

"That's not what I meant," Tidus rolled his eyes.

"He's another of Yuna's guardians," Wakka explained.

Yuna laughed. "Sometimes we don't understand him either," she admitted. "Kimahri doesn't talk much anyway."

Wakka nodded in agreement as Yuna walked over to him and Tidus. "But, he has protected me since I was a child."

"Hmm…" Tidus mumbled thoughtfully.

"You already knew about Kimahri," Lulu said quietly to me, not asking.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Yuna told me yesterday."

She nodded and walked off in the same direction as Kimahri. I waited for Wakka, Yuna and Tidus to catch up and we followed them.

"Again, what the heck was that about?" Tidus asked me.

I smiled. "I guess he wanted to make sure you're strong enough to protect Yuna."

Soon after that, another fiend appeared. This time another flying one with huge wings and a head like a snake.

"A flier! That's your department, right?" I asked Wakka.

"True, true," Wakka mused, "but...why don't we let our summoner show us what she's made of?"

Yuna grinned and ran forward.

"Your first real battle," Wakka said proudly. "Let's see some style!"

"Show us what your training has taught you, Yuna," Lulu chipped in.

"Okay," Yuna smiled, looking confident.

She spread her arms out and looked up to the sky as the rest of us stepped back. The ground started to glow and the same balls of light as before shot up into the air before colliding to reveal Valefor. Yuna stroked her beak before patting her gently to tell her to hover in front of the fiend and to attack it. Valefor beat it down in only a few blasts of her sonic wings, where she gathered up power in her wings before beating them harshly towards the fiend. She looked pretty proud of herself after beating the fiend, and Yuna laughed happily.

"Well done!" Wakka cheered as Valefor flew back up into the sky.

The next fiend that appeared looked the same as the last one.

"Another one of those…" Wakka sighed.

Tidus smirked. "Don't worry, we'll handle it!" He turned his head towards me. "Suki, you game?"

I grinned and ran forward, my new sword appearing in my hand. "Always!" I answered. "Say goodnight, birdy."

We both nodded at each other and ran forwards at the same time, slashing down on the fiend together. Wakka and Yuna clapped and I thought I saw a glimpse of a smile on Lulu's face. Tidus and I high-fived and I laughed out loud. I now felt like part of the team.


	11. Chapter 10 - Loathing

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is dedicated to LadyYunalescaOfZanarkand who has also written a FFX story called 'Lady Yunalesca's New Purpose' which is awesome, and a Harry Potter one called 'Daughter of Snakes'. Check them out!**

**A big THANK YOU to Joey 099 who is my new Beta Reader! You're awesome Joey! Thanks again!**

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Please Read and Review!**

* * *

**Chapter 10 - Loathing**

After a few more fights with fiends where we shared the load of taking them down between us, we eventually reached the beach. Some children, who had been playing with each other, stopped when we walked past them and started to follow behind us.

Lulu and Wakka stopped to talk to some of the villagers who had gathered at the edge of the docks.

"Take care of Lady Yuna," a little girl said to Tidus and me as we walked past.

"We will," I smiled, patting her on the head. She giggled and ran up to Yuna, who gave her a hug.

"Don't forget me Lady Yuna," the girl said. "I'll be good while you're gone, I promise!"

Yuna smiled, and I thought I saw a glint of a tear in her eye. I could feel myself welling up when Wakka patted my shoulder.

"Come on, let's get on the ship, ya?"

I nodded and dried my eyes, following him onto the ship. Lulu, Kimahri, Tidus and Yuna were already on. Yuna walked over to the side of the boat and, as the ship's horn went off, she waved at all the villagers. Everybody waved back, and most people were crying, Yuna and I included. I'm such a sap sometimes.

The little girl Yuna had been talking to ran up to the edge of the dock and waved at Yuna, crying her poor little eyes out. Yuna smiled down at her and waved back, before stepped back and bowing to the island, whispering, "Goodbye," as the boat pulled away.

* * *

"So we're going to Kilika first, right?" I asked Lulu as I leaned against the wall next to the door leading to the bridge.

She nodded. "Yuna needs to pray at each of the temples in Spira to gain all of the Aeons."

I nodded back and turned my head towards the front of the ship. The blitz team were practising on the deck in front of us. Suddenly, Tidus appeared on the railings to my right before jumping on the back of one of the workers on the ship, trying to steal his binoculars. He tried to shake him off and Tidus, not being one to do anything the easy way, balanced on his hands which were on the man's shoulders and flipped off, landing back on the railing in front of us. I laughed, and he grinned at me. He crawled along the railing, grabbing a different guy's binoculars, and proceeded to look out to sea, panning around to look at Wakka (who was standing on the other side of the boat), then me and Lulu (who looked rather disapproving, while I just grinned and waved), before clearly focusing on something behind us. I looked round and saw exactly what I expected to see, Yuna walking towards the bow of the boat, with Kimahri walking behind her. She turned towards him and waved, smiling widely. Tidus quickly lowered the binoculars and waved back, before Kimahri glared at him, causing him to lower his arm. He jumped off the railings, giving the man back his binoculars, and walked over to Wakka.

"Come to think of it, I haven't told you where we're going," Wakka realised, embarrassed. "First, to Kilika Island. Then we change boats and head for Luca. Before that though Yuna's gotta pray at the temple."

"You gonna be praying for the Aurochs to win too?" I chipped in.

"Yeah," Wakka smiled. "So you two come along, ya?"

Tidus and I both smiled and nodded.

"Great plan," Lulu sighed.

"Hey!" Wakka protested. "It _is_ a great plan!"

He looked over at Tidus for support, who stepped back and shook his head. "Don't look at me!"

Wakka and Lulu, being Wakka and Lulu, kept arguing, so Tidus escaped down to the hold of the ship and I sneaked away to join the group circling Yuna.

"Suki!" Yuna smiled, and the rest of the group turned round to face me.

"Um…could you all please give us a minute alone?" Yuna asked the crowd politely.

They all nodded, some bowed, and they walked away. Yuna grinned.

"Finally," she said when they were far enough away, "I thought I'd never get rid of them."

Usually I'd have laughed, but not this time. Yuna noticed and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey…are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," I said honestly, looking right into her eyes. "But are you?" I asked.

She frowned. "Yes…of course I am. Why do you ask?"

"Well for one, you're doing your formal speaking thing which you _never_ do with me," I pointed out, and she blushed, embarrassed. "And for another," I continued, "you don't seem to like all the attention that comes with being a summoner. Have you really thought about this?"

She sighed. "Of course I've thought about it. I just…I didn't expect it to be like this. All this attention…I'm not really used to it."

She looked up at me. "But I'm not regretting my decision. I want to do this."

I smiled. "Well, good. I just wanted to make sure."

Yuna started to laugh. "I thought I was meant to worry about you!" she smiled.

"Well, you're only four years older than me. I'm allowed to worry!" I giggled.

We both laughed for a while, and when one of us managed to stop laughing, we just had to look at the other to start giggling again. I spotted Tidus out of the corner of my eye, and took some deep breaths to try and stop laughing.

He started talking to a group of the men who worked on the ship before walking over to Wakka.

I strained my ears to eavesdrop. "I think…they're talking about your father?"

We both fell silent and tried to listen in.

"Lord Braska defeated Sin ten years ago," Wakka was saying. "Yuna's the heir to a great legacy."

"It's tough…when your father's famous," Tidus sighed.

Wakka looked confused, but Lulu chipped in.

"Wakka's a bit lacking in the imagination department," she said, almost cracking a smile.

Yuna and I both held in a giggle, but Tidus laughed out loud.

"Thanks Lulu," he smirked, "I'll keep that in mind."

Tidus looked round and spotted us watching them. He smiled and started walking over to us. When he reached us I headed towards Wakka and Lulu.

"Everything okay?" he asked when I passed him.

"Yeah", I grinned. "Just figured I'd give you two some alone time."

He punched my arm and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"You were down in the hold for a while," I noticed. "Find anything?"

He nodded. "Yeah, some merchant guy's down there. O'aka the 20-something."

I frowned. "Weird…nobody mentioned anything about there being a merchant on here."

"Stowaway?" Tidus suggested.

I shrugged, "Maybe. Well, as long as he's not causing any trouble I guess…"

"He seemed okay," Tidus confirmed.

"Oh well!" I smiled. "You find anything else down there?"

He started to smile. "Yeah…guess what powers the boat?"

I frowned, wondering why he looked rather sneaky. "Chocobos I'm guessing?"

His smiled fell slightly. "How'd you know? Are boats driven by freaking huge yellow birds normal in this world?"

I giggled, "Pretty normal, yeah."

He shook his head, clearly confused, and walked forward to stand next to Yuna. I headed back towards Wakka and Lulu.

"Hey Suki, you're good at eavesdropping right?" Wakka asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm alright, I guess. Why?"

He nodded over to Yuna and Tidus, who were now laughing together. Lulu rolled her eyes at Wakka's suggestion, but didn't protest.

I smiled and nodded, straining my ears to listen.

"You're a blitzball player, aren't you?" Yuna asked him. "From Zanarkand, right?"

Tidus looked down, nervous. "Uh…you hear that from Suki?" he asked.

Yuna nodded. "Wakka mentioned something about it too," she added.

I looked at Wakka and frowned as Tidus turned round and did the same.

"Wakka," he sighed, "Wakka doesn't believe me at all."

Yuna thought for a moment, before stepping back and smiling. "But I believe you," she said.

Tidus' head shot up. "Huh?"

I made a mental note to slap him later. I'd told him that Yuna believed him, but clearly he didn't believe _me_.

"I've heard in Zanarkand there's a great stadium, all lit up even at night," Yuna smiled.

"Huh?" Tidus said again, clearly not able to understand how she knew so much about his home.

He looked over at me, knowing me well enough to know that I'd be listening in. I shook my head. I hadn't told her anything like that. I'd known about the stadium from what Tidus had told me and Rikku, but I hadn't told Yuna about that. I didn't know how she knew about it.

"Great blitzball tournaments are held there," Yuna continued, "and the stands are always full."

Tidus stood up off the railing. "How do you know that?" he asked.

"A man named Jecht told me," she smiled. "He was my father's guardian."

Tidus' eyes widened, as did mine. Jecht? As in Tidus' father? But…that didn't make any sense.

Clearly Tidus agreed with my thoughts. He slowly turned away from Yuna, muttering his father's name with venom in his voice.

"My father…his name is Jecht," he told Yuna, still not facing her.

Yuna gasped. "Amazing!" she said happily, before bowing the prayer and running up to Tidus. "You know, our meeting like this _must _be the blessing of Yevon."

"Mmm…" was all that Tidus said, clearly thinking that Yuna was talking crap but not wanting to say that to her.

"Sounds like him, but it can't be him," he said, looking down into the sea.

Yuna frowned. "Why not?" she asked.

"My old man…he died," Tidus said, only the slightest tinge of sadness in his voice. "Ten years ago off the coast of Zanarkand."

Yuna closed her eyes and turned away from Tidus. "I…I'm sorry," she said sadly.

"He went out to sea for training one day," Tidus continued, "and…never came back. And no-one's seen him since then."

Yuna turned back to Tidus quickly. "Why, that's the day that Jecht came to Spira!" she realised.

"But…" Tidus said, not sure how this could be true.

"It's true I first met Jecht ten years and three months ago!"

I raised my eyebrows, impressed that she remembered the exact date, before she said, "I remember that was the day my father left."

Ah. That'll be why she remembers it.

"The date fits, doesn't it?" Yuna kept pushing, adamant that it was the same Jecht.

Tidus laughed nervously. "Yeah…" he admitted, "but how would he get here?"

Yuna smiled and looked out over the water. "You're here, are you not?" she asked.

He turned his head to look at her, and when she realised he was watching her, Yuna laughed.

Then suddenly, her smile disappeared as something big, something really _really _big, rammed into the side of the ship.

Yuna fell over and started to slide down the deck towards the port side of the boat. Tidus grabbed onto her arm with one hand and onto the railings with another. Two of the ships workers and Wakka rolled down the now-sloping deck and crashed into the railings. Lulu grabbed onto the wall we had been leaning against earlier to stop herself from following them. I staggered down the deck, my legs moving just fast enough to stop myself from falling, until I reached the railings and got my balance back.

I heard a scream behind me and sharply turned my head round to see Yuna falling away from Tidus. She must have lost her grip on his hand. She managed to cling onto some railings before Kimahri appeared out of nowhere to steady her.

I looked over the side of the boat and saw a huge black terrifying silhouette. I backed away from the side of the boat slowly, walking right into Tidus.

"What is it?" Tidus asked, although I could see by the look on his face that he already knew.

I looked round at him and nodded, confirming his fears. "We're gonna need a bigger boat."

And right on cue, Sin erupted out of the water right next to the boat.

It was huge, and we couldn't even see all of it; just a giant fin protruding out of the water, quickly moving round to the starboard side.

Everything was deadly silent except from the sound of the water parting in Sin's path, until one of the Aurochs players yelled the complete and utter obvious out of sheer terror.

"SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"

That seemed to snap everybody out of their trances. Members of the crew and the blitz team started running around on the deck, some of them having the sense to get their butts into the hold.

However, apparently Yuna, Tidus, Kimahri and I had no such sense, seeing as we all stayed rooted exactly where we were, each of us clinging onto the railings for dear life.

One of the ship workers (one who clearly had no common sense) grabbed onto a machine that fires harpoons and aimed it straight at Sin.

"What d'you think you're doing?!" Wakka cried out, he and Lulu running over to join us. "Stick a harpoon in it and we'll all get dragged under!"

"Sin is going for Kilika!" he yelled back. "We've gotta distract it!"

"Our families are in Kilika," another ship worker said, and my heart sank. "Forgive us lady summoner!"

Both of the men were at harpoons now, and they both turned to face Yuna looking for her approval who, after a slight pause, nodded at them both. They nodded back, and turned round to aim at Sin.

"Wait!" Wakka yelled but, realising it was pointless, hung his head. "Oh boy…" he muttered.

We all watched, none of us daring to breathe, as they both aimed for Sin, and then fired simultaneously. The harpoons flew through the air and pieced through Sin's skin, tightening almost immediately and pulling us along at great speed, forcing water up and flooding the deck.

I spotted something detaching from Sin and flying through the air towards us.

"Sin spawn!" I called as they landed, and everyone jumped back, getting hold of their weapons.

We split off into two groups of three to tackle them: Yuna, Tidus and Kimahri taking out the spawn, while Wakka, Lulu and I started attacking Sin, Wakka throwing his ball, Lulu casting magic and me hurling grenades. Yuna and I occasionally swapped groups, with me helping Tidus and Kimahri take out some of the spawn with my sword and Yuna healing Lulu and Wakka when they needed it. After a few minutes of this, Yuna summoned Valefor and we all stepped back to avoid being squashed when she landed. Yuna turned her head towards us.

"Suki! Lulu!" she called.

We both nodded and ran forward, Lulu blasting Sin with magic and me pelting it with my seemingly endless supply of grenades while Yuna had Valefor attack with insanely powerful attacks in comparison to my grenades.

After one final blast of Valefor's sonic wings, Sin seemed to get bored of taking damage and disappeared under the water, tearing the harpoons off of the deck of the ship. Then, as a final goodbye present, it raised the front half of its ugly body out of the water and slammed it back down, causing a huge wave to sweep over the ship.

The sea was calm once again. Wakka, Lulu and I let go of the railings and Kimahri let go of Yuna. Wakka was looking around frantically, and that's when I realised we were a man down. Tidus wasn't there.

Wakka and I ran over to the side of the boat and looked down into the water. No sign of him. We both looked at each and, nodding, stepped back, jumped off and dove into the water together. I heard Yuna protest behind me, but I trusted that Kimahri and Lulu would stop her from doing anything stupid.

We both plunged neatly into the water. It was pretty dark but, giving my eyes time to adjust, I spotted Tidus sinking further and further down with Sin spawn attacking him. I pointed him out to Wakka, and we both swam down to him. Wakka's blitz ball cut powerfully through the water taking out two of the spawns, and two of my grenades took out the rest of them.

Tidus was still unconscious when we reached him. Fearing the worst but hoping otherwise, Wakka and I grabbed an arm each and pulled him towards the surface. When we were nearly there, Wakka stopped and threw a healing potion on him. After a few worrying moments, he jerked upright and spotted us hovering next to him. I smiled, and Wakka pointed up to the surface. Tidus nodded, giving us a thumbs up, but just as we were about to head for the surface, two terrified dolphins shot past us, followed by a giant mutant jellyfish.

'Oh joy,' I thought to myself, before pulling out my sword.

Fortunately, for its size, it only took about three minutes for the three of us to defeat it. This must have been a fancy fiend though because, unlike other monsters which just disappeared into a few sparkly orbs, this one freaking **exploded** in a huge ball of light.

The power from it shot us back up to the surface. A ladder was lowered when they spotted us and Wakka and I helped Tidus up as he still wasn't at full strength.

To be honest, I think we all expected the others to be glad to see us; to be relieved, but when we got back on the deck they didn't even turn round to look at us. Everyone was too busy gathering at the front of the boat. We quickly joined them, and we all gasped in shock.

Sin had left us and headed straight to Kilika. We were still pretty far away from the island but we could see that Sin had completely decimated the docks and the huts that had been on stilts over the water.

I covered my mouth with my hand, silent tears rolling down my cheeks. The men on the ship had said their families were from Kilika... All those people: men, women and children…

"I will…defeat Sin," I heard Yuna said determinedly from in front of me. "I _must_ defeat Sin."

Kilika was getting closer as the ship sped towards the island, the men anxious to try and find their families.

Yuna turned round and noticed that I was still sobbing. She came over quickly and just hugged me, not saying a word. I just felt terrible for everyone on the island. And, to be honest, I was scared to go there myself; to go somewhere that Sin had literally just attacked.

Tidus came over and rubbed my shoulder. I looked up at him and tried to smile. His face looked sad but also…disappointed?

I remembered what he had said to me when we were still on Besaid: that he was going to try and find Sin again, hoping that it would take him back home. Clearly that hadn't happened.

I gritted my teeth. Uncle Cid had always taught me not to hate, and at that moment I realised that I didn't hate Sin.

I _loathed _Sin.

* * *

**Drama! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I was a bit worried about the more emotional scenes because I don't have any experience in writing anything like that. Please let me know if I did okay!**


	12. Chapter 11 - Dancing for the Dead

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry that this chapter is shorter than the others; I just really wanted to get it up. Hope you still like it! Please read and review!**

**Sorry that I didn't send this to you Joey! Please let me know if you spot any mistakes.**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 11 – Dancing for the Dead**

I think everyone had hoped that the damage to Kilika wouldn't look as bad up close as it did from far away, but unfortunately it looked just as bad, if not worse.

As soon as the S.S. Liki came to a stop, the men from the island got off as fast as they could to try and find their families.

Yuna also ran off the boat with the rest of us following behind her, stopping when she got onto the dock.

"Greetings," she said to the people waiting on the docks. "I am the summoner Yuna. I have come from the temple in Besaid."

She bowed to the people, and some of the people ran up to her, crying, "My Lady summoner!"

"If there is no other summoner here," Yuna continued, "please allow me to perform the sending."

One of the men sighed in relief. "Thanks be to you," he said, smiling sadly.

"Our loved ones," a woman said tearfully, "We fear they would become fiends!"

"Please, take me to them?" Yuna asked gently.

They both nodded and headed towards the village, followed by Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri. Tidus and I walked off the boat, watching them go. Wakka walked up behind us.

"We'll go see what we can do to help in town," Wakka said, motioning to the blitz team.

We nodded as Wakka and the rest of the team ran towards the village. We were about to follow them when we spotted a crowd gathering near the other side of the docks.

"What're they doing?" Tidus asked, and I sighed sadly.

"Yuna's gonna perform the sending," I told him.

He frowned as we walked over. "What's a sending?" he asked. "Are we going somewhere?"

Lulu heard us and sighed loudly. "You truly _are_ clueless. Are you sure it's just your memory that's the problem?"

Under better circumstances, I'd have laughed. After a few moments of awkward silence, Lulu continued.

"The dead need guidance," she said as I turned to face Yuna. "Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate. They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive. You see, they envy the living. And in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate. Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living."

Tidus seemed dumbstruck. I still wasn't looking at Lulu, not really wanting to acknowledge what she had just said, although I'd been taught about it since I was a child.

"Sad, isn't it?" Lulu said, partly to Tidus, partly to me. "The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace."

"Summoners do this?" Tidus asked, and Lulu nodded, before they too turned to face Yuna.

She was talking to someone who looked like he could be the elder of the village, or maybe the priest of the temple. Kimahri was standing behind them, looking as protective as always. Yuna bowed to the old man and started walking towards the water. I saw Tidus frown out of the corner of my eye, and I very nearly cracked a smile. I'd heard of summoners doing this but I'd never seen it myself.

As I suspected, Yuna started to walk on the water and Tidus' mouth dropped open. Her staff appeared in her hand as she walked over the deeper water where the villagers had placed the dead bodies, covered over with white sheets with red flowers scattered around them. She stopped in the centre of the circle the bodies made underwater. That's when Yuna started to dance.

As the villagers began to weep for their friends and family, translucent lights began to rise out of their bodies towards Yuna. The flames on stands surrounding the docks suddenly turned from orange to blue as the water Yuna was dancing on started to spin upwards, taking Yuna with it until she was standing on a podium of water dancing for the dead. The lights of the deceased started to rise up to the sky, going to the Farplane. I glanced over at Tidus and saw that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

* * *

It wasn't too long before Yuna was back on the dock, the villagers gathering around to thank her.

"It must be tough being a summoner," Tidus remarked.

"Yuna chose her own path," Lulu told him. "She knew from the beginning what it meant. All we can do is protect her along the way until the end."

"Until the…end?" he asked nervously. "What's 'the end'?"

Lulu shook her head at him pityingly. "Until she defeats Sin," she sighed, before walking over to Yuna and Kimahri.

"Oh…"

Yuna walked quickly up to Lulu. "I hope…I hope I did okay…" she said anxiously.

Lulu smiled at her and laid her hands on Yuna's shoulders. "You did very well," she assured her. "They've reached the Farplane by now. But…no tears next time, hmm?"

Yuna let out a small chuckle.

"Why does there have to be a next time?" Tidus asked me quietly.

I sighed. "I know. I wish there wouldn't be a next time. No more people being killed by Sin."

"No more sendings for Yuna," Tidus continued. "Everyone was just standing there watching her…"

I knew what he meant. It was horrible seeing everyone stare at Yuna guiding the dead to the Farplane. I never wanted to see it again, and I could tell that Tidus didn't want to either.

* * *

That night we stayed in a hut that was used as an inn. As seemed to now be tradition, we were all up way before Tidus, so Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri started to head towards Kilika temple, leaving Wakka, myself and the Aurochs to wait for him to get up. As we waited the boys and I started to fix up a broken bit of docking while Wakka directed us. The guys were a bit nervous about letting me on, but after I glared at them and gave them the sexism lecture that Rikku and I had used on Brother countless times, they shut up about it and let me help.

About half an hour after we'd started we'd managed to fix up quite a bit of the dock. Tidus decided to turn up and Wakka called us over.

"On to the temple," he told us, "where we pray for victory!"

The team cheered and ran off in the direction of the temple, leaving me, Wakka and the still half-asleep Tidus.

"High Summoner Ohalland used to live in the Kilika temple here," Wakka told us as we started to follow them. "Yup, Lord Ohalland was once a great blitzer ya know."

"Wakka?" Tidus asked suddenly, causing Wakka and I to stop walking.

"Praying for victory's all good…" he continued, "but is this right?"

I knew where Tidus was coming from. After the tragedy that had happened only yesterday, it felt like all we should be praying for, if anything, should be the people of Kilika.

Wakka however had other ideas. "Something wrong with enjoying blitzball?" he asked.

"Is this really the time though?" I pointed out, agreeing with Tidus.

"This is the only time," Wakka replied as we started to walk again. "The players fight with all their strength. The fans cheer for their favourite team. They forget pain and suffering; only the game matters. That's why blitz has been around for so long." He turned back to us, "At least that's what I think."

"Whatever you say," Tidus sighed.

"Let's play and _win_," Wakka smiled. "Right?"

Tidus gave himself a shake and nodded determinedly, "Right."

Wakka turned to me. "Suki, you in?"

I grinned. "You bet!"

He smiled, as did Tidus, and pointed in the direction the rest of the Aurochs had headed in.

"The temple's behind that jungle there," he told us. "Let's go."

* * *

When we got to the edge of the forest we saw that Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri had waited for us. Yuna looked nervous. Lulu looked agitated. Kimahri…well, you never could tell with Kimahri.

"What's up?" Wakka asked Lulu when we walked up.

She sighed. "Yuna's saying…"she said to Tidus and me, "she wants you both with us."

Tidus and I both whipped our heads round to face Yuna. "Huh?"

"I want…to ask you…" she started shyly, looking at Tidus, "to be my guardian."

Tidus mouth dropped open as Yuna turned to me.

"And Suki...I'd feel better if you came too…" she smiled.

Wakka walked over to Yuna, shaking his head. "Yuna, what? This is no time for jokes, ya? Tidus may be a blitzball whiz-kid, and Sakura may be your childhood friend, but up against fiends they're both newbies."

She turned to face Wakka who had moved to stand behind her. "Not a guardian then," she concluded. "I just want him nearby."

Wakka looked shocked. Lulu rolled her eyes. I smirked, Kimahri's expression didn't change, and Tidus' mouth dropped even further open.

"What?" he cried, voicing both his and Wakka's thoughts. "What d'you mean?"

Yuna turned to him, looking embarrassed. "It's just that…well…"

Lulu walked over. "We're all going to the temple anyway. Can't this wait till later?"

Yuna nodded apologetically before turning back to Tidus. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…"

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Tidus assured her. "I'm just not really sure what's going on."

Yuna's face fell for a moment, not meeting Tidus' eyes. "I apologise," she said quietly, before Kimahri walked over, motioning towards the temple, and ending the conversation.

* * *

Yuna and Lulu led the party through the woods, followed by Wakka and Kimahri, then Tidus and me.

"What're you gonna do?" Tidus asked me quietly.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I think I'll carry on with you guys to Luca. The Al Bhed Psyches'll be playing there, so maybe Brother and Rikku will go to watch them. I might be able to meet up with them there."

Tidus nodded. "What about you?" I asked.

He shrugged too. "I've got absolutely no idea." He ran his hand through his hair. "I guess I'll stick with Yuna and Wakka, if Lulu'll let me. I don't really know what else to do to be honest…"

I smiled. "I'm sure Lulu will let you stay if Yuna says she wants you too."

He smiled back. "I hope you're right…"

I smirked. "You really do like her, don't you?"

He blushed and didn't say anything, making me laugh even more. But before Tidus could tell me to shut up, three fiends appeared in front of us.

"Tidus! Suki!" Wakka called, and we ran up to the front of the group, our weapons ready. It looked like this journey was going to be a long one…


	13. Chapter 12 - Accidental Training

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am sosososososososososososososo SOOOOOOOOO sorry this took so long! I promise I will try to get these chapters up faster. It's now the Christmas holidays so I should be able to get a few more up over the next two weeks to make up for it. Sorry again! Please review; it gives me motivation to get these up faster!**

**For people who know all the little details about FFX, I know that I've changed Kimahri's lancet attack a bit, but I found it easier to describe this way. Hope you don't mind!**

**During the fight with Ochu, Suki says something in Al Bhed. In case you were wondering, it translates as 'Oh crap'. You'll get why when you read it!**

**And Joey, I know this chapter does have a certain summon that you happen to love. Next chapter; I promise!**

**This chapter is dedicated to sDan12 and Dragon-of-Chaos.**

* * *

**Chapter 12 – Accidental Training**

After slashing our way through quite a few loads of fiends, I had noticed that Kimahri had a pretty cool attack. I asked Lulu about it.

"It's called lancet," she explained to me. "Normally, it's a skill that weakens enemies and heals the user. But when a Ronso uses it…"

She broke off and looked at Kimahri, who was fighting a plant-like fiend with Wakka and Tidus. Kimahri ran forward and jabbed his lance into the fiend. As he drew it back out, balls of light flew out of the fiend and into Kimahri. He then proceeded to fire a huge blast that looked like a seed at the fiend, an attack that we had seen the fiend use on Tidus on a few moments before.

"…that Ronso can sometimes learn fiends' abilities," Lulu finished after Kimahri's on-cue example.

I smiled "That's pretty cool!"

Lulu rolled her eyes. "Oh to be young and naïve again," she sighed dramatically, and I grinned.

* * *

A few minutes later we were still walking through the Kilika woods, when we came across some Crusaders. They bowed when they saw us.

"We are training for the upcoming operation," one of them told us. "Call on us if you see any Sin spawn."

Yuna and Lulu both nodded to them, before they ran further into the woods, leaving just one Crusader with us.

"Lady Yuna?" he asked, and she nodded.

He bowed again. "I'm glad I ran into you, my Lady. I wanted to thank you personally for performing the sending. My younger sister was among those killed by Sin."

Everyone's face fell, even Kimahri's slightly. Nobody seemed to know what to say, so I stepped in.

"What was her name?" I asked him gently.

He turned to me with a sad smile on his face. "Kairi. She was eight."

I bit my lip. "I'm so sorry," I told him, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

He nodded back, smiling gratefully. "Thank you very much ma'am."

He turned back to Yuna. "If you're heading for Kilika temple then just continue down this path," he gestured the same way his fellow Crusaders had ran. "But be on your guard. There are poisonous fiends in the forest."

"What about Ochu?" Wakka asked.

The Crusader nodded. "He was spotted recently. I'd steer clear of him if I were you. Even we Crusaders avoid him."

Yuna smiled at him kindly. "Thank you for your help, and I'm so sorry for your loss."

The Crusader smiled back. "Thank _you_, my Lady summoner."

As we carried on down the path the Crusader had pointed out to us, I was walking next to Wakka and Tidus.

"Who's Ochu anyway?" I asked.

"Ochu's known as the Lord of the forest," Wakka explained. "He's a huge fiend, known to be especially violent. And very poisonous."

Tidus was grinning. "We're gonna fight it, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're a weird one Tidus, you know that?"

Both he and Wakka starting laughing, and Tidus bowed from the waist dramatically. "Why thank you Sakura!"

After another fifteen minutes of hacking through groups of fiends, we reached the entrance to a clearing where we could see a butt-ugly plum and green blob of a fiend with vines raised above its head. Luzzu and Gatta were standing behind a tree, watching it from a distance.

I frowned. "When did Luzzu and Gatta get here?" I asked Lulu.

"They got on a different boat shortly before us," she replied. "They had been asked to come here to help to get rid of some of the fiends. I would imagine they have been very helpful; since Sin attack there will have been many more Sin spawns than there would usually be."

Luzzu looked round when he heard us and, realising it was us, nodded respectfully before turning back to face the giant fiend.

"The fiend before us is Ochu, Lord of the forest," he told us. "We've had trouble with this one before. Remember, discretion is the better part of valour."

I rolled my eyes. What was it with this guy and speaking either in riddles or old fashioned-like?

"Ochu's no garden variety fiend," Luzzu continued. "You could throw 100 Crusaders at it and still lose."

I smirked. "Well, we'll just have to be better than you then!"

I expected him to be annoyed, but he just smiled.

"His poison is a sure-fire way to get to the Farplane, and fast. Take these. They'll probably come in useful."

He pulled out some antidotes out of his pocket and handed them to me, before retreating further back into the forest with Gatta.

Our group all looked at each other and nodded. Lulu, Wakka and Tidus ran up first. Wakka cast a spell on his ball and hurled it at Ochu. Lulu then cast a fire spell, and Ochu moved forward to retaliate, missing Lulu but hitting Tidus with his vines. Tidus faltered back before dropping to his knees, his face screwed up in pain. Before I could run up and help him Wakka flung his ball at it again and Lulu cast another fire spell. Ochu attacked again, this time hitting Wakka and poisoning him too.

I looked at Yuna and we both nodded. I ran up and helped Tidus back to where we had been standing. Lulu did the same with Wakka as Yuna ran forward and summoned Valefor. Valefor attacked Ochu with sonic wings twice before Ochu apparently got bored and fell asleep. Valefor seemed to get annoyed at this and tackled him without Yuna's command, which woke Ochu up with a start and caused him to retaliate. He jumped up high and slammed all his weight back down on the ground, causing a mini earthquake. We all wobbled and Tidus and Wakka, still a bit weak from the poison, lost their balance and fell over. Chunks of earth flew up and just missed Valefor and Yuna. This made Valefor fairly pissed, and lights from the sky began to fly down towards her.

"_Uh lnyb_…" I muttered, and Tidus looked up at me, confused.

"You may want to cover your ears," I warned him.

He saw I wasn't joking, and he clapped his hands over his ears. I did the same just before Valefor blasted Ochu with a very powerful, very _very _loud energy ray, completely destroying him.

I took my hands away from my ears and cheered. "Go Valefor! Overkill much!"

She turned her head towards me and seemed to cheer back, before Yuna dismissed her.

Luzzu and Gatta ran up to us, Gatta with his mouth hanging open.

"A summoner and her guardians. Very impressive," Luzzu smiled.

Gatta turned back to him. "Sir, we should fight too!" he said, enthused.

Luzzu nodded. "We'll get our chance soon enough."

Gatta grinned. He and Luzzu then bowed to us before walking back into the forest, Gatta singing a little song as he went: "Young Crusaders gather round, we'll beat Sin into the ground…"

I laughed a little, as did Tidus, Yuna and Wakka. Lulu just rolled her eyes, and Kimahri stayed silent as always.

"Shall we carry on?" Lulu suggested, sneaking a glance at Wakka and, to a lesser extent, Tidus to make sure the antidotes I'd given them had finished working and that they were back to full strength.

Satisfied that they were okay, Yuna and I nodded at her and we carried on to the Kilika temple.

* * *

By the time we reached the stairs leading up to the temple, the Aurochs were already half-way up them. Wakka nodded to them before turning to us, folding his arms over his chest.

"These stone steps have a history you know," he told us as Tidus and I craned our necks to see the temple at the top. "Lord Ohalland trained here at his peak," he continued.

We heard some chuckles from behind us, and we turned to see two members of the Aurochs, Datto and Jassu, stretching behind us. They grinned rather cockily at Tidus before nodding at the steps. Tidus caught on.

"A race, huh?" he smirked, and the two Aurochs grunted in agreement. "Think you can beat me?"

They laughed again, as they, Tidus and Wakka all turned around to face the steps.

"Yuna? If you would?" Wakka asked, as Yuna ran up, grinning.

I slipped in next to Tidus, and he raised his eyebrow at me. "You up for this?" he asked.

I nodded, smiling, "Let's just say I'm faster than your average teenage girl."

He grinned. "Another Al Bhed thing?" he whispered, and I nodded again.

"Ready?" Yuna called, raising her arm to start us, before she starting running up the stairs ahead of us, laughing.

"Hey!" Wakka called in fake annoyance, before running after her, followed closely by the Datto, Jassu, Tidus and myself.

I quickly got past Tidus and the Aurochs who hadn't been prepared for the sudden start. I caught up to Wakka half way up the stairs and saw Yuna ahead of me approaching a round arena-like area. I ran up the final step when I heard Yuna scream.

Wakka, Datto and Jassu reached us quickly, but Datto and Jassu turned and fled back down the stairs at the sight of what had appeared. Wakka turned and yelled to the others, "Everyone, quick! Sin spawn!"

Tidus, Lulu and Kimahri sprinted up the remaining steps. Yuna already had her staff out, and I my sword. Wakka joined us in the middle with his ball and Lulu, Tidus and Kimahri stood a little further back, but still with their weapons out to be ready.

There were already two fairly large Sin spawns behind us which looked kind of looked like huge mutant weeds, but then a third huge one decided to join them, blocking our path to get to the temple. It was literally just a huge ugly black blob with grey armour over the top of it.

Wakka, Yuna and I stood back to back, Wakka facing the large fiend and Yuna and I each facing one of the smaller ones.

"Yuna, swap out with Lu," Wakka told her. "Those fiends look like huge plants. Lu's fire magic will work well against them."

Yuna nodded and ran towards Tidus and Kimahri, nodding to Lulu to take her place.

"I'll handle the big one," Wakka continued once Lulu had joined us. "You two get rid of the smaller ones first before helping me out."

Lulu didn't seem like the type who enjoyed taking orders, but she nodded anyway, not wanting to argue just before we had to fight. I nodded too, and we all burst into action.

As Wakka predicted, Lulu attacked one of the plant-like fiends with fire magic as I hacked away at the other with my sword. They both had some weird tentacle-like things that they tried to whack us with, but we both managed to keep dodging out of the way. They didn't take too long to kill, so we both turned out attention to the large fiend that Wakka was facing. He had thrown his ball at it multiple times but it was just bouncing right back off, not really doing any damage.

"Wakka! Swap out with Kimahri!" I called, coming to the conclusion that a spear would do more damage to an armoured fiend than a ball.

Wakka nodded and ran out, Kimahri replacing him a moment later. Without a second of hesitation he ran up to the fiend and began to jab its armour with his spear. I joined him, slashing away at the sensitive under-body of the Sin spawn which Lulu blasted it with thunder magic.

Just when we thought the fiend didn't have any sort of defence other than its armour, it's shield of thick skin flew off and a giant, hideous, bug-like creature with the same tentacle things that were on the other fiends emerged.

"Oh joy…" I heard Lulu mutter, before she blasted it with fire and thunder magic. Kimahri swapped out with Tidus and we slashed away at it with our swords. Of course, then the fiend decided to spit poison on us. I managed to roll out of the way quite easily, but it just narrowly missed Tidus.

"Be careful!" Yuna called from the sidelines.

Lulu covered us with more lightning magic while we ducked under and attacked the fiend. We ran back out from under it, dodging Lulu's lighting and the fiend's tentacles. Tidus and I locked eyes and nodded, before running back over to the fiend, jumping high and slashing down on the monster, with Lulu casting a powerful fire spell and sending it under the fiend's belly. Tidus and I landed behind the fiend and, turning my head round to face it, I saw the white lights flying out of its body. We'd done it.

As the monster disappeared Lulu, Tidus and I were joined by Kimahri, Wakka and Yuna. Tidus and I were breathing hard, tired out from the fight. Wakka laughed.

"Sorry 'bout that," he chuckled. "Hoped to break you two in a little slower."

"Being a guardian's tiring," Tidus observed, and I smirked at the obvious statement.

"You guys handled yourself pretty well," he smiled. "You've got talent."

"Meh…" Tidus muttered modestly, rubbing the back of his head. "So, what're these Sin spawn anyway?" he asked.

"Fiends that fall from Sin's body and are left behind in its wake," Lulu answered, beginning to walk towards the stairs to the temple.

"Leave 'em alone and Sin comes back for 'em," Wakka continued, "You gotta be quick."

As Wakka, Kimahri and Yuna started following Lulu, I noticed that Tidus' face had changed.

"You okay?" I asked.

He nodded, but was still frowning. "It's just…I've never been told I have talent in battle before."

"Well, you've never had to fight before, have you?" I pointed out, and he shook his head.

"You starting to think about becoming a guardian?" I asked, and he nodded slowly.

"I think so," he said quietly. "I mean…if I _can_ help protect Yuna then I _should_, right?"

I shrugged. "It's your call," I told him. "It's a big decision; I can't make it for you."

I touched his arm. "But I'll support you no matter what, okay?" I smiled, and he smiled back.

"Thanks Suki. You're a good friend."

I gently pulled on his arm to follow the others. "Well come on then, possible guardian-in-training! You don't want to fall behind!"

He grinned, and allowed me to drag him after Yuna and the others.


	14. Chapter 13 - Trust

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is dedicated to Ginga no Yousei, Timistheman and ripper6545.**

* * *

**Chapter 13 - Trust**

"So Tidus…they got fiends in Zanarkand too?"

Tidus and I both looked up at Wakka who was walking ahead of us as we continued climbing up the stairs to the Kilika temple.

"Just a few," Tidus replied. "It's a big deal when one shows up though."

I stopped walking, looking up questioningly at Wakka, who had also stopped to look round at Tidus.

"Hang on," I started, "Since when have you believed Tidus about Zanarkand anyway?"

Wakka frowned, looking thoughtful. "I've been thinking…maybe people Sin gets to don't die. Maybe Sin carries them through time, like 1000 years through time. And then one day, maybe they just pop back, see?"

Tidus nodded slowly, looking quite hopeful. Yuna and I both smiled, trying to look encouraging, but both of us fairly sure it was impossible. Kimahri…well, I think everyone knows by now how Kimahri reacts to every situation: he doesn't. At all.

Lulu on the other hand did even try to act supportive.

"Amazing. Simply amazing," she muttered, shaking her head in disapproval. "You make up one theory after another, refusing to face the simple truth."

Wakka turned round to look at her, and there was a hit of a glare in his eye.

"Sin didn't _take_ Chappu anywhere," Lulu continued, her voice sharp. "Sin crushed him and left him on the Djose shore. Your brother won't just _pop back_." She practically spat the last two words.

Yuna was starting to look really distressed as the people she looked at as her older brother and sister seemed to be growing further and further apart; every time they spoke they to each other argued.

"Oh, and one more thing," Lulu added as she turned to walk further up the stairs. "No matter how much you want it, _no-one _can take Chappu's place."

She turned her head back around enough to lock eyes with Tidus for a moment. "No-one can replace Sir Jecht for that matter."

Tidus held her gaze evenly, with a steely look in his eye. Lulu was the one who broke the eye contact to look at Yuna with a sad look in her eyes.

"And there's no replacement for Lord Braska either," she said, slightly quieter than she had said anything else during her little speech/rant, before turning back to Wakka who had now sat himself down on one of the stone steps with his back to Lulu.

"It's pointless to think about it. And sad," she concluded before carrying on up the stairs after Kimahri, who had begun to move up them while Lulu had been talking. Yuna ran after them, leaving Tidus and I with Wakka.

I sat down next to Wakka. I didn't need to say anything; I just looked at him and waited. Tidus did the same. I may just seem like a kid, but I'm quite good at reading people and knowing how to handle different emotional situations. It's one of the few things Brother actually gives me credit for.

As I suspected, Wakka reacted in his own time without any push from the two of us. His face started to screw up before he angrily punched the step he was sitting on.

"I...I could never be what Chappu was…" he sighed, before giving himself a shake and standing up.

"Well, stuff happens. Best not to worry," he said before following the others up the steps.

I stayed where I was sitting and shook my head. Tidus noticed.

"What it is?" he asked, and I stood up.

"Wakka, Lulu and Wakka's brother Chappu…something must have happened between them a long time ago," I mused. "Something big. But Wakka's acting like it's no big deal…"

Tidus shrugged. "I think you're right about something going on between them. But Suki, this is none of our business. We've just met these people; we can't risk touching on any soft spots."

I nodded slowly. "I guess you're right. It's probably best not to go there."

Tidus nodded in agreement. "Come on," he nodded at the steps. "We'd better follow them in case they start arguing again."

* * *

We finally came to the temple, the Hymn of the Fayth becoming louder as we approached. Kilika temple was a really beautiful building, designed so that the different parts of the building looked like different seashells in a whole array of colours. As we walked into the temple courtyard everyone turned to look at us, most of them bowing respectfully to Yuna in thanks for performing the sending.

Just as we approached the door to the temple, three Blitz players walked out. I recognised them from their uniforms as the Luca Goers, one of the best Blitz teams in Spira. They knew it too, and weren't shy about showing off about it. Their leader walked right up to Wakka who was standing at the front of our group with Datto and Jassu standing either side of him.

Wakka regarded them with a nod. "You here to pray for victory too?" he asked.

Their leader, Bickson I remembered his name was, smirked. "Us? Pray? Who needs to pray? The Luca Goers _always win_."

I rolled my eyes and glared at them. Cocky twats.

"Oh yeah? Then why're you here?" I asked, making the distain in my voice perfectly obvious.

"We've been praying for some competition this year," one of them, Graav, a powerful tackler, said.

"So what's your goal this year?" Bickson continued. "You gonna 'do your best' again?" he asked mockingly.

"Ha! It's too bad your best isn't good enough," Graav chuckled, earning him another glare from me as well as from Tidus and Wakka.

"Why even bother showing up?" the other Blitzer, Abus, asked while smirking.

I was starting to get sick of this. Clearly Tidus was too.

"This time, we play to win," he told them confidently, Datto and Jassu grunting in agreement.

"Ooo, play away. Just remember, even kids can play, boys," Bickson smirked before walking out of the temple courtyard, Graav and Abus following him.

"See you in the finals!" Wakka called after them. They didn't acknowledge if they'd heard him.

Wakka shook his head at them, perhaps in pity, before walking into the temple followed by the rest of the Aurochs, Lulu and Kimahri. Only Yuna, Tidus and I remained outside.

"We'll beat them. We have to," Tidus thought out loud.

"You know that team?" Yuna asked him.

Tidus didn't answer. "Putting people down…" he said angrily. "They're as bad as my old man!"

I bit my lip when I saw Yuna's shocked face. Uh oh.

"But…Sir Jecht was a kind and gentle man!" she insisted.

"Well not my Jecht," Tidus said, shaking his head.

Yuna sighed sadly, and I decided to quickly change the subject.

"That was the Luca Goers," I told them, looking towards the stairs they'd just walked down.

Yuna and Tidus both looked up at me.

"You know them?" Yuna repeated her question to Tidus but directed it to me.

I nodded. "Know of them anyway. The Psyches got into an argument with them last year at the tournament."

Yuna nodded. "I remember Wakka telling me about that when they got back to Besaid."

Tidus frowned. "The Psyches?"

"The Al Bhed Blitz team," I explained.

I looked around to make sure nobody was listening in before I continued. "Rikku, Brother and I always to go watch the Blitz tournament in Luca every year. The Psyches' goal keeper, Nimrook, is one of Brother's best friends, so we'd always go to cheer them on."

Yuna interrupted me momentarily. "Nimrook…I've heard of him. Isn't he meant to be the best goal keeper in Blitz in the whole of Spira?"

I smile and nod. "So they say!"

"Anyway, I was at the tournament last year with them," I continued, "and the Goers are good. Like, annoyingly good. And the worst part is they _know_ they're good. Last year Nimrook got in a fight with Bickson, the leader of the Goers who was here earlier, saying that he was too big for his boots and he needed taken down a peg or two. Bickson didn't take that too well as you can probably imagine and started fighting with him. The rest of the Psyches and the Goers joined in, and neither of them got out of it unscathed. The Psyches got the worst of it though."

Tidus shook his head again. "I hate people like that. People who think they're better than everyone else. The Duggles were like that too."

"Were they a Blitz team in Zanarkand?" I asked, and Tidus nodded.

"Yeah, the team we were playing against the night Sin attacked. They played dirty all the time."

I smiled. "Did you beat them? Before Sin attacked?"

He grinned back. "Well, we would have! Let's leave it at that."

I laughed, as did Yuna, and we headed in to the temple together.

* * *

As we entered the temple we saw that Wakka was already praying in front of a statue.

"Lord Ohalland," Yuna clarified when I looked at her with a questioning look on my face.

Tidus walked over towards him and started to pray too. I smiled. It was good that Tidus wasn't rubbishing their religion and customs even though I was 98% sure he didn't believe in them.

Yuna and I were about to join them when two people walked out of the cloister of trials, a woman followed by a man. The woman looked down at us.

"A summoner," she stated, looking like she was smirking slightly, which was weird seeing as if she had come from the cloister of trails, she must be either a summoner or a guardian herself.

She began to walk down the stairs and looked like she was about to leave the temple, followed by the man, before Yuna stepped in front of her.

"My name in Yuna, from the isle of Besaid," she spoke out clearly.

"Dona," the woman introduced herself, before continuing. "So, you're High Summoner Braska's daughter. That's quite a name to live up to. My my my…" she shook her head pityingly before looking at the rest of us one by one.

"And _all_ these people are your guardians? My, what a rabble," she chuckled. "As I recall, Lord Braska had only two guardians. Quality over quantity, my dear. Whatever where you thinking?" she said, shaking her head again.

I gritted my teeth, getting really annoyed at her continually comparing Yuna to Lord Braska. It's not like they're the same person or anything!

"I have need of only _one _guardian," she continued, looking at the man standing next to her. "Right Barthello?"

The man next to her nodded silently. I raised an eyebrow. Apparently she had him well trained.

Kimahri stepped up to stare eye to eye with Barthello. He tried his best not to look intimidated, but I could see his eye twitching nervously. I tried my best not to chuckle as Yuna began to speak.

"I only have as many guardians as there are people I can trust," she said, looking Dona confidently in the eye. "I trust them all with my life."

She turned round momentarily to look at all of us and she smiled. "To have so many guardians is a _joy_ and an honour, even more so than being my father's daughter."

Lulu and Kimahri's eyes both widened slightly when she said that. Tidus, Wakka and I were a little less subtle, the three of us audibly gasping.

"Of course I would never think of questioning your ways either," she added respectfully, looking back round at Dona. "So Lady Dona I ask of you, please leave us in peace."

Dona shook her head yet again. "You do what you want. Barthello, we're leaving."

As they both left the temple, Yuna sighed heavily. Lulu patted her on the shoulder before walking towards the entrance to the cloister of trails, followed by Kimahri and Wakka. Tidus was just staring at the back of Yuna's head. When she turned round to look at us, he blushed and looked down. She just smiled before following Lulu and the others.

I elbowed Tidus once she'd walked away. "You okay?" I asked.

He looked dazed, and wasn't looking up. "She said a guardian is someone a summoner trusts with their life. Does…does that mean Yuna trusts _me _with her life?"

I smiled gently. "I guess it does. She knows you care about her Tidus. We all do. She knows that you'd fight to protect her. You would, right?"

Tidus nodded, and I nudged him, causing him to look up. He was smiling too.

"So…she _does_ trust me?" he confirmed.

I grinned and nodded. "Yes Tidus! She trusts you and she believes you about Zanarkand. Have some confidence for crying out loud!"

He chuckled and nodded, finally agreeing. He looked up the stairs towards Yuna, the blush creeping back into his cheeks. I punched him on the shoulder, grinning cheekily, running up the stairs after Yuna and the others with Tidus following close behind.

* * *

**Ifrit next time Joey! Promise!**


	15. Chapter 14 - Scream Fire

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: So I've got exams for the next week. Joy of freaking joys. So, probably no updates until I'm done. Not that that's much different than what updates on this story are like at the moment. :-P I'm really sorry that these updates are really irregular. I really really wish I could get these up faster! If you want me to get these up faster then pleasepleasepleeeeeeease review! It really helps me to get motivated to write these! Thanks a bunch!**

**This chapter is dedicated to NightmareOnElmStreet and Firestripe49.**

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Scream Fire**

We all walked through the doors at the top of the stairs in the Kilika temple and started towards the small moving platform that would take us down to the heart of the temple; the chamber of the Fayth.

Wakka stepped onto the platform before the rest of us. "The Fayth is below. Let's do it!"

Tidus frowned. "The Fayth?"

Apparently nobody heard him. "But first, the Cloister of Trials," Lulu said. "Kimahri? Wakka? Ready?"

They both nodded and turned to Yuna, who bowed to all of us. "Strength, everyone," she said, like a blessing.

We all walked onto the moving platform, before Kimahri pushed Tidus and me off.

"Hey!" I exclaimed in annoyance.

"What gives?" Tidus complained.

"You two aren't guardians yet," Lulu said simply.

Tidus huffed, and I looked pleadingly at Yuna. She bit her lip and shook her head.

"Um…we'll be back as soon as we can, okay?" she said apologetically.

She shot Tidus another 'I'm sorry' look before the platform started moving down.

Tidus folded his arms and yelled down the hole in the floor, "Oh yeah, 'soon.' Like, tomorrow's 'soon' I'll bet."

I heard Wakka chuckle.

I rolled my eyes at Tidus and leant back against the wall, folding my own arms. "Come on Tidus. Yelling isn't going to do anything."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know. And I know we don't have any right to go down. I just…"

"Don't like feeling left out?" I finished, and he nodded in agreement as we heard the platform hitting the ground far below us and the sound of feet shuffling off.

I looked up at Tidus. He was leaning against the wall opposite me, mirroring my position and looking down at the floor, his face deep in thought.

"You okay?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I still feel kind of weird about praying for anything else other than the people whose homes and lives were destroyed by Sin. Don't tell Wakka, but I wasn't praying for victory earlier. I couldn't."

He looked up at me, smiling slightly. "Not that I even believe in all this Yevon stuff mind you."

I grinned. "Be careful saying that in here."

He stood up straight and stretched. "Well, it's not like you believe all this either, right?"

I shrugged, my arms still folded across my stomach. "I'm honestly not sure. I wasn't brought up to believe in it like most people in Spira were; none of the Al Bhed were. I guess I've not really made up my mind yet. I still don't know why they've banned certain machina though."

"Can't help you there. Sorry," Tidus shrugged back just as the platform reappeared next to us, now with nobody on it.

As we were both considering going back out to the temple to wait, Dona and Barthello walked towards us. Tidus looked over at them while I stayed where I was, looking at them but not standing up off the wall, not thinking they really deserved any recognition after what Dona said to Yuna.

"Where's Yuna?" Dona asked, getting straight to the point.

Tidus jerked his thumb over his shoulder, pointing to the platform to the Trials.

"Then why are _you _here?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We aren't guardians," I answered, causing both Dona and Barthello to look over at me sharply as if they'd just realised I was there.

Tidus nodded in agreement to what I said. "So, we're not supposed to go in, right?" he clarified.

Dona didn't answer him, instead moving her eyes between me and Tidus, her lips pursed in thought.

"Hmm…not guardians you say?" she mused.

I frowned, as I could see a plan forming in her head. She smiled slightly before nodding at Barthello, who silently walked over to Tidus and picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder.

"Hey! Wait! Let me go!" he protested loudly, squirming and kicking.

I couldn't help but start to laugh, earning me a glare from Tidus while he continued to kick and punch Barthello's back, to no avail, until Barthello dumped him on the platform. He stood up as Barthello stepped back, still no emotion on his blank face.

"What's the big idea?" he screeched, while Dona chuckled.

"Just a little game," she smiled.

Tidus looked confused, before the symbol of Yevon on the platform glowed red and it started moving down.

I rolled my eyes as Tidus started to groan, and I jumped down after him without looking back at Dona or Barthello. I landed on the platform, managing to keep my footing and thankfully not landing on Tidus who'd had the good sense to move to one side of the platform, presuming that I was going to jump down after him.

"This is bad," Tidus said, stating the obvious.

I nodded in agreement. "Really bad."

Tidus sighed. "Wakka's gonna kill us."

"Yup."

The platform reached the ground pretty quickly, and we stepped off, knowing that it probably wasn't going to take us back up. There was a door at the other side of the room and, even though we both knew we shouldn't go through it, we walked over to it, as it was the only thing to do other than just wait in this room for Yuna to finish. I put my hand on the door handle, but Tidus started to shake his head.

"Only guardians allowed," he reminded me. "And we're no guardians."

I shot him a look and didn't say anything. He rolled his eyes and sighed, a grin starting to form on his face.

"Well…I guess it's too late now!" he decided, and I smiled, nodding before I pushed the door open.

I think we both expected Yuna and the others to not have gotten very far in the time it took for us to get down there, but they were nowhere in sight.

"How'd they get through so fast?" Tidus asked aloud while walking up to a podium which had an orange, glowing sphere set in it.

This place didn't look too different to the Cloister of Trials in the Besaid temple. As Tidus removed the sphere, the fire in the torch behind the podium extinguished. I shrugged at Tidus' question as he walked towards the door in front of us.

"Apparently someone in the group is good at these things," I mused, as Tidus placed the sphere in a hold next to the door.

A bright orange light travelled from the sphere down the wall, across the floor and into the middle of the door, before the whole door caught on fire. We both jumped back, and Tidus quickly yanked the sphere out of the hole, causing the fire to disappear, having burnt the door away.

"Looks like we're not so bad either," Tidus remarked, turning to grin at me.

* * *

It took us a good ten minutes to get through the Trials. Apparently whoever built this one had a thing about fire. We quickly learnt that if you put any of the orange spheres, which a carving on a wall had told us were called Kilika Spheres, into any opening that would fit them, they set something on fire. Much like the door at the start of the Trails, if you them removed the sphere, whatever had been set on fire had mostly burnt away so you could pass through. This did make me wonder if someone had to come in here after every summoner had gone to put new doors and things in, or if they appeared back like magic. To this day I still have no idea how it works.

Eventually we found ourselves in a large room where Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri were standing, presumably waiting for Yuna. None of them saw us when we first came in.

The Hymn of the Fayth, which had been faint while we were in the Trails, was now louder again, but it sounded different than usual. Normally, the Hymn sounded like it was being sung by a large group of people. Here, it was just one voice; a deep male's voice.

We both walked towards the others. Wakka saw us first. As predicted he looked pretty shocked. He ran up to us, his eyes wide, followed by Lulu.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Wakka cried, dragging his hand down his face.

Tidus quickly tried to explain before anyone else (mainly Lulu) could say anything. "It was Dona and that big muscle-head man."

Lulu wasn't satisfied. "Yuna will be the one to suffer the consequences!" she told us angrily.

I frowned. "…What consequences?" I asked, looking at Wakka, presuming he'd break it to us more gently that Lulu would.

I was wrong.

"She could be excommunicated," he said simply, before stepping away from us to talk to Lulu.

I looked over at Kimahri who had been watching silently the whole time. He was glaring at Tidus, who gulped.

"So Yuna could be…_banished_ because we came in here?" Tidus clarified, looking very worried.

I shook my head, trying to reassure him. "I'm sure that won't happen. When we explain that it was because of Dona and Barthello that we're down here, they'll know it wasn't Yuna's fault and everything will be fine."

Tidus sighed, wanting to believe me but finding it hard to. He looked over at the door that Kimahri was standing in front of. Wakka spotted him.

"Just wait," he warned him, walking over to us.

"What's in there anyway?" Tidus asked, not looking away from the door.

"The Fayth, remember?" he answered.

Tidus started to nod. "Oh yeah…that thing, right."

"The Fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin," Lulu explained. "Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still living bodies."

I shivered as she walked over. All this talk about the dead and people's souls…it freaked me out.

"Now, they live forever, trapped in statues," Lulu continued. "But when a summoner beckons, the souls of the Fayth emerge once again."

"That's what the Aeons are, right?" I asked, and Lulu nodded.

"All that in this room?" Tidus asked wide-eyed, looking again over at the door Kimahri was standing guard of. "So, what's Yuna doing in there?"

"She prays with all her heart for a way to defeat Sin," Wakka answered.

Tidus and I both fell silent, knowing that that's what everyone in Spira wanted. I knew that Yuna wanted to be the one who did it, but…

"That's a heavy burden to bear," I thought aloud, and Wakka nodded.

"True, but that's what us guardians are for," he said. "We don't just protect Yuna from physical danger. We have to look after her mind too, ya?"

I nodded, not looking up at him.

I think that was the moment I decided that I was going to ask Yuna if I could become a real guardian. I didn't want to just be some kid tagging along and not be able to properly help her. Even though I was younger than her, I wanted to help the others to protect her. If she was taking Sin down, I wanted in; if nothing else, to avenge the people of Kilika.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Yuna stumbled out, looking just as weary as she had done at Besaid. She was breathing heavily and didn't even seem to notice me and Tidus at first. Lulu, Wakka and Kimahri huddled round her to make sure she was okay. She smiled at them all, nodding to reassure them.

I looked over at Tidus. Surprisingly, he wasn't really paying attention to Yuna. Instead, he was looking up at the ceiling, his face thoughtful.

I nudged him and he blinked, shaking his head before looking at me. "Sorry, what?"

"You seem kinda out of it," I told him. "You okay?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, it's just…" He shook his head again, "It's nothing, forget it."

I raised an eyebrow, but I let it go. I knew if he wanted to talk about it then he would in his own time.

Yuna looked over Lulu's shoulder and finally noticed us. He eyes grew wide.

"What…what are you doing here?" she asked coming over to us, sounding more worried and surprised than angry.

"That woman Dona had her guardian throw Tidus onto the platform to get down here. I jumped down after him," I explained.

Yuna's eyes got even wider. "But…why would Lady Dona do such a thing?"

Tidus and I both shrugged. "We were just minding our own business waiting for you," Tidus told her. "She came over and asked why we weren't down there with you. We told her we weren't guardians, and that's when she had that muscle-head chuck me on the platform."

Lulu frowned now that she'd heard the whole story. "As a summoner herself, she'd know the dire consequences of someone who wasn't a summoner or a guardian entering the Trials…" she mused, looking down at the floor and thinking.

"She said something about it being a 'game'," I added.

Wakka shook his head angrily. "Some game! She should know that Yuna could get in trouble for this!"

"She did know," Lulu answered, before looking up at Yuna. "Lady Dona must not have been too happy about the way you spoke to her. This must have been a petty attempt at revenge."

Yuna bit her lip. "I…I shouldn't have spoken to her so sternly…" she said, now worried.

I shook my head. "You had every right to talk to her the way you did. She was the one being disrespectful. If anyone should get into trouble it should be her and Barthello."

Lulu, Wakka, Tidus and even Kimahri nodded in agreement. Yuna stayed silent. I sighed quietly, before attempting to salvage the situation.

"So, did you get the Aeon?" I asked.

Yuna looked back up at me, smiling again. "Yes, I did. Ifrit, the fire Aeon. Wait till you see it."

* * *

When we emerged from the temple, the villagers who had been waiting in the courtyard bowed to Yuna before running over to her, asking her if she was okay and if she'd received the Aeon.

Tidus looked spaced out again as he watched. He knew I was looking at him.

"The way everyone crowds round her…it reminds me of how people used to do that to me back home," he explained quietly so only I could hear him.

"Before Blitzball games?" I clarified, and he nodded.

"People looked up to me. I don't mean to sound boastful, but they did," he continued, "so I kind of know how she feels. I only had the expectations of my fans on me to win the game though. Yuna's got the hopes of the whole of Spira on her shoulders. I can't imagine what that much pressure must feel like."

"That's what the guardians are for though, right?" I replied. "Remember what Wakka said?"

He nodded, but was still frowning.

Suddenly, everyone stepped back and away from Yuna. I smiled, realising what she was going to do. Tidus was still only half paying attention to what was happening around him, caught up in past memories, so I gently pulled him backwards into the circle we were all standing in around Yuna.

She held her staff out in front of her and spun in around, a fireball forming at either end. They joined together in the centre of her staff before falling to the ground. Yuna crouched down behind it and, as she hovered her hand over it, it expanded and covered the ground around her, before Yuna shot up into the air along with the ground she had been standing on. The Aeon, which had exploded out of the ground, reached up to catch her and set her down gently on the ground.

I found it hard to believe that I had found Valefor scary when I compared her to this Aeon. He was huge, almost like a giant brown wolf in terms of his long snout and sharp dark blue claws. He had a mass of orange hair running down his back, and horns and spines on his back the same colour as his claws. He had a bronze cuff on each wrist and a thin necklace with a single purple feather hanging from it. He lifted his head to face the sky and blasted a huge fire ball out of his mouth.

My heart was pounding. Yuna turned to look at us and I immediately shook my head and stepped back. I wasn't getting hooked into going anywhere near this Aeon like I did with Valefor. Yuna grinned at me, rolling her eyes, and I stuck my tongue out at her.

The local villagers were in awe, as was Wakka. Lulu was smiling, and it almost looked like Kimahri was too. Tidus however was still spaced out. I frowned at him even though he was looking at the ground and didn't see me.

Yuna dismissed Ifrit, bowed to the villagers and our group began to leave the temple. Tidus was lagging at the back. Yuna noticed and locked eyes with me before nodding at him, frowning. I shrugged, and we both started walking slower until he caught up with us.

"Are…are you okay?" I asked quietly.

He stopped walking, still looking down at the ground. We stopped with him.

"I…I don't know," he sighed.

Yuna bit her lip. "What…do you want to do?" she asked.

"To scream real loud," Tidus answered without missing a beat.

Yuna smiled and giggled lightly, presuming he was just joking. But I could see from the look on his face that he wasn't. Without any warning he threw his head down and screamed at the top of his lungs, causing Wakka, Kimahri and Lulu to whirl around.

Nobody said anything. Everyone, even the villager still in the courtyard, was staring at him. He was breathing heavily, still looking down. Yuna stretched her arm out and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. He jumped at the sudden contact, looking up at her. She smiled gently to reassure him, and he slowly smiled back.

He looked round at the rest of our group. Kimahri actually looked slightly concerned, as did Lulu. Wakka wasn't even trying to hide the worried look on his face. Tidus attempted a smile and nodded at him, and he nodded back. He then looked round at me. I was still worried about him. He managed a real smile this time.

"Sorry 'bout that," he murmured.

I shook my head. "Don't be. You clearly needed to do that."

"What, randomly scream my head off?" he grinned.

I smiled back and shrugged. "Well, I don't know what you boys have to do to relieve stress but…"

Yuna smirked, and even Lulu chuckled. Tidus looked like he was going to dig me in the ribs, so I quickly dodged out of the way. He chuckled and tried again. I grinned and began to run back down the stairs, Tidus following behind me. I was glad that he was okay now, but I had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the last time one of us had to cheer Tidus up.


	16. Chapter 15 - Change for the Better

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Exams are done! Yay! Hopefully I'll get these up faster now. I hope anyway! Please read and review!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Doppelganger13 and liuur. **

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 15 – Change for the Better**

We were all finally on the ship headed to Luca, the S.S. Winno, joined by the Kilika Beasts, who were nice enough guys, and the Luca Goers, who Tidus and I were avoiding like the plague for rather obvious reasons. Tidus was up on the top deck with another stolen pair of binoculars, keeping an eye out for Sin. Wakka and Lulu were down in the hold checking out that O'aka guy Tidus had found earlier. Yuna was standing at the back of the ship, her eyes still fixed on the tiny blob that was Kilika on the horizon. Kimahri, as always, was standing not too far away from her, his arms folded across his chest.

I was up on the top deck with Tidus, who had stopped looking out at the horizon and was now glaring down at the Goers who were practising on deck at the front of the ship. I leaned over the railing next to him.

"You alright?" I asked.

He nodded sharply, not saying anything or moving his gaze from the Blitzers below us.

"You wanna talk about it?" I pushed.

He turned his head slightly to look at me, smiling weakly. "We're not talking about the idiot Blitzers, are we?"

I smiled, shaking my head. "You know what I'm talking about Tidus."

He sighed, turning round to lean his back against the railings. He turned his head to the left, looking out at the sea. I stayed where I was, leaning over the railing, turning my head in the same direction as him.

"You promise not to tell anyone?" he murmured quietly, only just loud enough for me to hear.

I nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "I promise."

He sighed again. "That song that plays in the temple…I know it from back home, from when I was a kid."

I frowned. "They had the Hymn of the Fayth in Zanarkand?"

He shrugged, still not facing me. "I don't really remember to be honest…but I know it from somewhere."

"But…I thought they didn't have temples and things like that in your Zanarkand?"

He shook his head. "That's the thing, they didn't. I don't know where he knew it from…"

He stopped suddenly, groaning quietly. He'd said more than he'd meant to.

I stayed silent for a few moments, deciding whether or not to ask him or just to say nothing. Me being me, I bit the bullet.

"Your father?"

He nodded once and didn't say a word, still facing away from me.

I sighed quietly before giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"Thank you for telling me," I said, and he turned his head back to me and smiled.

"You should probably get some rest," I told him. "Wakka said you guys'll be playing your first match not long after we reach Luca."

He nodded before passing me the binoculars and heading down into the hold to get some sleep. I waited until he was gone before I walked over to the other side of the top deck to check on Yuna. She hadn't moved during my whole conversation with Tidus; still standing at the back of the boat her gaze fixed on Kilika. Kimahri was still standing stock still where he was.

I smirked, an idea forming in my head. I clipped the binoculars onto my new brown pouch which was connected to my belt. Wakka had found it in the hold and thought it would work well for holding my grenades. I climbed on top of the railings and, aiming just right, I jumped off, landing right next to Kimahri, actually making him jump. I silently congratulated myself.

Kimahri, after glaring at me, was now looking back at Yuna. I stood up straight and looked over at her too.

"Is she okay?" I asked, honestly not expecting an answer.

To my surprise, after a few moments of silence Kimahri actually replied. "Yuna is stronger than she looks. You should know this."

I (just barely) contained my shock that he had spoken to me before turning to him. "I do know that, but I don't think she realised exactly what being a summoner would involve. I think she got a bit overwhelmed in Kilika."

Kimahri nodded slowly. "Kimahri sees what you mean, but Kimahri also knows Yuna's heart. Yuna will protect the people she cares about, and Yuna cares about all the people of Spira."

I smiled at him. "You care about Yuna too, don't you?"

He nodded once but stayed silent. I didn't want to push it; I was still amazed that he had actually spoken. So instead, I looked over at Yuna and then back at Kimahri. He nodded at me again, giving me permission to talk to her. To be honest, I probably would have gone over anyway, but Kimahri was a heck of a lot taller and stronger than me; I definitely didn't want to get on his bad side.

I walked over to Yuna and stood next to her. She looked over and smiled before turning back to look at Kilika, which we could barely see anymore.

"You couldn't have done any more for them," I told her quietly.

She nodded but didn't say anything.

I bit my lip. I really was worried about her, even if Kimahri had told me I didn't have to be. I saw the blue-beaded earring dangling from her right ear, and I smiled.

"You kept that all these years then?" I asked.

She smiled, not even having to look at me to know what I was talking about. She tucked some hair behind her ear, running her fingers over the earring.

"I haven't taken it off since you made it for me," she said, looking over at me.

I smiled back and raised an eyebrow. "That was five years ago Yuna. You've kept that on since your twelfth birthday?"

She nodded. "Well you made it yourself, right? It meant a lot."

"Thanks," I smiled.

She sighed and turned round to look up at the top deck, her face falling slightly when she saw Tidus was no longer there. I followed her gaze and tried to not smile at her reaction.

"I told him to get some rest," I explained.

She blushed when she realised I'd caught her looking for him, and she turned back round quickly, trying to hide her face behind her hair. I laughed and she shot me a look.

"Sorry," I apologised, but I didn't stop smiling.

Yuna blinked a few times before trying to cover up a yawn.

"You should probably get some rest too. It's been a long day," I said.

She nodded, rubbing her eyes sleepily before heading under the deck. Kimahri nodded at me before following her.

I caught myself yawning and began to follow them myself. Looks like I needed some sleep too.

* * *

By the time I woke up it was already dark outside. I left my room below deck and spotted the Aurochs chatting in the hallway. Tidus and Wakka weren't with them so I presumed they were up on deck. I headed up there, the sea breeze hitting me half-way up the stairs.

The sky was completely clear of clouds, making millions of stars visible. I was used to this view from helping on the salvage ship, but it never failed to amaze me. I leaned over the railings, craning my neck to take in as many stars as possible.

I heard the sound of footsteps behind me, and I turned to see Wakka and Lulu heading up the stairs to the top deck. I decided to give them some privacy; I could always eavesdrop on them later. I saw Yuna standing and talking with the Luca Goers with Kimahri standing back slightly, and Tidus walking over to them. I grimaced. I had a feeling this was going to go really badly.

I walked over to the group behind Tidus, who didn't notice me. Yuna caught my eye and smiled.

Tidus had just reached the group. "What you all talking about?" he asked.

Yuna smiled again when she saw him. Tidus noticed and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

Bickson, the arrogant leader of the Goers, turned round to face him. "Who are you supposed to be?" he asked rudely.

Graav raised his eyebrows at Tidus. "Aaaahhhh, I remember him," he said. "Guy from Kilika."

"Huh?" Bickson turned to Graav, clearly not remembering.

"You know, one of the Besaid Aurochs," Graav explained. "Said something about 'winning the cup'."

Bickson smirked and turned back to Tidus. "Oh right. You're _that_ idiot."

Yuna frowned at him. "Don't call him that," she demanded quietly.

"But he _is_ an idiot," Bickson argued. "They don't got what it takes to win the cup."

"Well, they do now that I'm here!" Tidus announced.

Yuna nodded in agreement. "Yes, they will win."

Yuna's encouragement would have been nice enough if she had stopped talking then. However she didn't.

"He used to be the star player of the Zanarkand Abes," she continued.

I screwed my face up and shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. Graav smirked.

"Yeah, as if anyone lived in those ruins," he chuckled.

This seemed to make Yuna angry. "It's not ruins! There's a big city there! There _is_!"

I face-palmed. I couldn't help it. Yuna was an idiot. As her cousin I have the right to say that.

Tidus, who at some point during the exchange between Yuna and the Goers had saw I was there, noticed my distress at Yuna's stupidity and made an attempt to cover for her.

"Um…I…uh…got too close to Sin and…" he started to recite the old lie that him and I were both used to using now.

Yuna however was determined to convince the Goers. "There _is _a city, really!" she continued before turning her back to them.

Bickson looked at Graav and the rest of the Goers, rolling his eyes and shrugging at them. "Right…whatever your ladyship says," he replied condescendingly before heading to the other side of the deck with the rest of his team.

Tidus and I both glared at them as they left, especially at Bickson, who just sneered at us as he passed. Cocky so-and-so. Yuna turned to face to sea once they'd gone and sighed heavily, looking drained. Tidus and I looked at each other and nodded before approaching Yuna.

"What's wrong?" Tidus asked. "You seemed…kinda mad just there."

Yuna shook her head slightly, not meeting his gaze. "They were being rude and…"

She paused before turning to face us, looking at Tidus.

"I do believe your Zanarkand exists. I really do, you know?" she smiled.

"How come?" Tidus asked.

Yuna turned away from us again, walking back towards the railings, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Sir Jecht used to always tell me stories," she told us. "It'd be great to see your home someday."

She turned back to face us, still smiling. "I'd…love to go there."

Tidus smiled back, a faint blush rising in his cheeks again. I chuckled quietly and stepped back, leaving them alone for a while.

I headed over to the stairs leading up to the top deck, deciding to make good on my earlier mental threat to eavesdrop on Wakka and Lulu. I quietly climbed to the middle of the stairs and crouched down to listen without them seeing me.

"Well, say something," Lulu was saying. "You'll take responsibility?"

"Relax!" Wakka replied. "He's bound to know someone in Luca."

So they were talking about Tidus.

"And if not?" Lulu pressed.

"He could always join a Blitz team," Wakka suggested.

"And the girl?"

And now me.

"Suki said that her uncle works in Bevelle. Worst comes to worst, she sticks with us till then and finds them when we get there."

Thanks Wakka. Make me sound like a liability why don't you.

"Neither of them are dead weight though Lu," he continued. "They're both good fighters. It's better this than just leaving them in Besaid."

"What?" Lulu answered, sounding rather smug. "Just leaving them in Luca and Bevelle?"

"What do you want me to do?" Wakka complained.

"Yuna wants to make them guardians," Lulu said quietly.

"Oh yeah…" Wakka remembered. "Geeze…there's that too, eh?"

"And whose fault is that?" Lulu asked.

"Not mine!" Wakka defended himself quickly.

There was a few moments of silence, I'm presuming where Lulu and glaring at Wakka because Wakka then sighed in defeat.

"It is mine, huh?"

There was another shorter silence before Wakka piped up again.

"I get why Yuna wants to make Suki a guardian since she knew her when they were kids and all, but what about Tidus?" he asked.

"Because he's Sir Jecht's son," Lulu answered.

My eyes widened. How did she know about that?

"Oh right…wait, you sure about that?" Wakka clarified. "He's really Sir Jecht's son?"

"It's hard to say," Lulu admitted, "but Yuna seems to believe so."

"Okay," Wakka said simply.

"Okay? Okay? That's all you have to say?" Lulu demanded.

"Well yeah. I mean…he's gotta decide for himself, yah? Well, him _and _Yuna I guess."

"You're right for once," Lulu agreed, and Wakka coughed in surprised.

"I wonder which is best…" she mused.

I heard her footsteps walking towards me and I quickly ducked down the rest of the stairs and hid between them and the wall. I heard her stop and walk back over to Wakka, so I carefully climbed back up the stairs to listen in again.

"Why don't you tell him he should?" Lulu asked.

"Should what?"

"Become Yuna's guardian."

"Why me?" Wakka asked.

"Because Yuna can't."

"Why not?"

"He hates his father. What he was, what he did. Do you really think she can possibly say to him, 'I want you to be my guardian like your father was to mine'?"

My eyes widened yet again. How did Lulu know so much about this? Yuna must have told her.

"Aren't you being over-sensitive?" Wakka asked.

Lulu sighed heavily.

"Alright, alright," Wakka muttered in defeat. "I'll try talking to him after the tournament."

"Be discrete," Lulu advised.

"I know. It's his decision," Wakka agreed, before asking, "He doesn't like his father?"

"Apparently. He told Yuna as much," Lulu answered.

"Hating your own father, huh? Sounds like a luxury to me…" Wakka muttered. "I don't even remember my parents. Can't say how I feel about them."

I bit my lip. Looks like we had something in common…

"I…I was five then," Lulu said quietly, "so I remember mine a little."

"Damn it!" Wakka said louder, before a thump came from the top deck. It sounded like Wakka had punched the floor or something. I peeked over the top step momentarily and saw that Wakka was sitting on the floor, leaning against a pole, his fist against the floor confirming that he'd punched the floor in agitation.

"Sin just takes everything away from us!" he continued angrily.

I quietly backed down the stairs, having heard enough and starting to feel guilty that it had been a very private conversation. I looked over to the back of the boat and saw that Yuna was there by herself. I walked round the corner to the front of the boat and saw Tidus standing there with his foot on a blitzball.

He didn't notice I was there. His face looked distant again; I guessed he was remembering something that happened in the past. I could see from the look on his face that he was getting frustrated and angry until he suddenly kicked the ball against the stairs he was facing. It bounced back at him and he did it again, then headed it, then punched it. It rebounded off the stairs again and shot up high. Tidus leapt into the air, spinning round very fast before thumping the ball with his foot causing it to fly over the deck and the sea before curving back round to bounce on the deck.

My mouth dropped open and I think a squeal escaped. Tidus didn't hear me though as he'd started laughing.

"The best? Yeah right!" he muttered.

He stopped as if he sensed something behind him before he spun round to see Wakka and the rest of the Aurochs standing right behind him. They'd sneaked up while he was laughing and had only caught the tail end of the move.

"What's that called?" Wakka asked, not even attempting to hide the awe on his face.

"Doesn't have a name," Tidus told them. "Anyone can do it if they try."

"Show us one more time, yah?" Wakka asked, holding another blitzball out to him.

As he nodded, I quickly ran round to the back of the ship.

"Yuna!" I called when I saw her.

She spun round quickly when she heard me.

"Suki! Is everything okay?" she asked.

I grabbed her arm, starting to pull her round to the front of the ship. "You have _got _to see this!"

We got round to where Wakka and the others were watching Tidus. He was just about to repeat the move when he must have seen Yuna and me out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face us and Yuna waved, smiling. He smiled back before repeating the move.

Wakka and the rest of the Aurochs' mouths dropped open like mine had. Yuna was grinning but didn't look surprised. While the guys attempted the move, Tidus came over to talk to us.

"That was the Jecht Shot, wasn't it?" Yuna asked, smiling.

Tidus looked taken aback and walked over to the side of the ship, a shocked look on his face. "…How did you know that?"

Yuna laughed as she walked over to him. I followed behind her.

"Sir Jecht showed it to me when I was a child," she explained, giggling slightly. "He called it the 'Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark 3'."

I started laughing at the ridiculous name, and Yuna joined me. Tidus turned back round to face us, no hint of laughter on his face.

"Stupid name, huh?" he said.

He hopped up to sit on the side of the ship. "You know what?" he told us. "There is no 'Mark 1' or 'Mark 2'. My old man said the 'Mark 3' was just to hook the crowd. He said they'd come back every night expecting to see 'Mark 1' and 'Mark 2'. And they really _did_ come back."

He frowned. "I used to get so mad."

Yuna giggled again, and Tidus dropped his head. After a few moments of silence Tidus looked back up.

"Is he alive you think?" he asked.

Yuna bit her lip. "I don't know," she said sadly. "But, Sir Jecht _was _my father's guardian."

Tidus rolled his eyes in disgust. "So he's famous here too…"

Yuna nodded.

"So, if anything happened to him, word would get around pretty fast, right?" I asked.

Yuna nodded again. "I should think so, yes."

Tidus sighed slightly. "Uh huh…"

Yuna leaned closer to him. "What would you do if you found him?" she asked.

Tidus hopped off the side of the ship. "Who knows? I thought he died ten years ago."

He walked away from the side, his face thoughtful. "Well…I'd probably just smack him one," he said honestly. "After everything he put mom and me through…because he was famous I was always…"

He turned back to look at us. "Well, you should know Yuna."

"Hm?"

"Your father's famous too. Everyone in Spira knows him, right?"

Yuna nodded in agreement.

"Ain't it tough?" he asked.

"It is hard to follow in his footsteps as a summoner," she admitted, "but the honour of having a father like him surpasses all that, I think."

Tidus shrugged. "Well, there wasn't much to honour about my old man, that's for sure."

"You shouldn't say that about your father!" Yuna protested.

"I got the right!" Tidus argued.

Yuna sighed. "I guess you do…"

Before Tidus could respond Wakka threw a blitzball at him and hit him on the shoulder. I chuckled as the three of us turned to face him.

"Show me that move again!" he called out.

Tidus sighed loudly and dramatically, pretending it was a huge effort, before walking over to the Aurochs. Yuna and I stayed by the side of the ship watching them.

"Do you think maybe Sir Jecht would come to Luca if he found out his son was playing?" Yuna asked me.

I shook my head. "I doubt it. From what Tidus has told me about him, he isn't the type who likes to watch other people play."

Yuna opened her mouth to protest but I shook my head to stop her.

"I know the Jecht you knew doesn't seem that way, but the Jecht Tidus knows is. I guess being in Spira changed him, but Tidus doesn't know that yet." I shrugged and walked over to the side, looking out at the sea sparkling in the moonlight. "Who knows, maybe Spira'll change him too."

Yuna sighed and came over to stand next to me. "I hope it does, for the better. For his sake."


	17. Chapter 16 - Knocked Down, Get Up Again

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: So yeah…this took me ages to get up. Sorry again! We had a few days off school and I was away on a trip so I didn't get a chance to write anything. Joey, if you're reading this then you have my permission to email me in a fit of rage if I don't start getting these up on a regular basis!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! Please read and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 16 – Knocked Down, Get Up Again**

I woke up pretty late the next day having stayed up late talking with Yuna. I could hear muffled noises coming from up on deck and I ran up quickly to see what was going on. Yuna, Lulu, Wakka and Kimahri were standing at the back of the boat on the port side and Tidus was standing on the railings at the front of the port side of the boat holding onto a rope to stop himself falling off. His mouth was dropped open and he was staring in wonder as our ship pulled into Luca's port.

I had to admit Luca was an awesome city. I always loved the first glimpse we got when Rikku, Brother and I had arrived with the Psyches every year. Undoubtedly the most beautiful building in the city was the Blitzball stadium with its huge transparent sphere which filled up with water and the thousands of seats around it for the fans who travelled from all over Spira to watch the annual tournament, from Bevelle to Besaid.

I jumped up on the railings next to Tidus, holding onto the same rope as him to keep my balance. I could hear the voices of the commentators, Bobba and Jimma, coming from the loudspeakers dotted over the port. Even from the distance our ship was from the dock we could see the thousands and thousands of people who had come to Luca to watch the tournament.

"It looks awesome, doesn't it?" I shouted to Tidus even though he was right next to me, the wind whipping around us making it difficult to hear each other.

He nodded, a huge grin on his face. "Almost as cool at the Zanarkand Dome!"

I rolled my eyes. "It's not like you're biased or anything!"

He laughed, as did I. Yuna had noticed me by this point and waved at me, smiling herself. She loved Blitzball as much as Wakka did, and I knew she'd always wanted to come see the tournament in Luca. When we were kids me, Yuna and Rikku had talked about sneaking onto the boat taking the Aurochs to the game one year, but one of the temple elders had stopped us when we'd tried to smuggle ourselves into the cargo hold. As she was Lord Braska's daughter, everyone was very protective of her. She was barely allowed down to the beach by herself, never mind be let to go Luca just to see a game of Blitzball. Or that's how the temple priests put it anyway.

As the Winno pulled into the dock, the sound of the commentators' voices got louder. Tidus and I hopped off the side of the boat onto the deck to help tie the boat down.

"Ah! Over there! The ships carrying the players are arriving now!" I heard Bobba say.

The boat came to a stop and the gangplank was lowered. We'd been told what order the teams were to come off in, so the Beasts walked to the side of the boat and waved at the crowd before walking down to the dock.

"This would be dock number 2!" Bobba's voice boomed out. "All the way from Kilika it's the Kilika Beasts! High summoner Ohalland used to play for them; a big name to live up to! Their home town was recently attacked by Sin, isn't that right Jimma?"

"Yes Bobba, they're gonna be pulling out all the stops to try and bring back the cup this year," Jimma answered, his voice a bit less dramatic than Bobba's.

"Exciting! Isn't it folks?" Bobba boomed out. "Our next team off the ramp is…"

I bit my lip. We were off next, and the commentators could be pretty cruel sometimes.

"Well, well, well!"

I sighed. "Here we go…" I muttered as Tidus, Wakka and the others walked to the top of the gangplank.

"If it isn't the Besaid Aurochs! They're a living, breathing statistical impossibility; I've never seen a team this bad!"

I gritted my teeth, trying to stop myself picturing me kicking Bobba where it counts. I seriously hated that guy sometimes, and I've never even met him.

"That's right!" Bobba continued. "In 23 years they've never made it past the first round. Only a few die-hard fans are in the audience today."

Most of said die-hard fans had come on the boat with us and were now hanging their heads in shame, knowing that the odds were against their team winning and being embarrassed to be associated with them. I glared at them for being cowards before Yuna, Lulu, Kimahri and I walked off the boat behind Wakka and the others, our heads held high, none of us being embarrassed to be seen with the Aurochs.

The slagging continued even after we were off the boat. "Best of luck to them and a safe journey back to Besaid," Jimma said.

I growled. So they thought we'd be heading back to Besaid right away? Well we'd show them!

That's when the cheering behind us started. We all gathered behind some crates on the dockside to make room for the next team coming down which judging from the noise the crowd was making were probably the favourites to win.

As expected, the next team down the ramp was the Goers. Bobba started to get very excited, even more so than usual.

"Here they are folks! Our very own Luca Goers! They've got power, they've got speed, they've got teamwork!"

"They're also stuck so far up their own asses they can see what they had for breakfast this morning," I muttered, earning me a chuckle from Tidus and Wakka.

"They're an all-round first-class team," Bobba continued, "and they're back home in Luca!"

"Without a doubt they are the favourite this year Bobba," Jimma agreed.

By this point the Goers had ran off the ship and were now waving to the crowd like pros, lapping up the applause and admiration which, in my opinion, they so didn't deserve.

"And after the way they dominated last year," Jimma continued, "It'd take a miracle for them to loose today."

"You can say that again Jimma!" Bobba cheered. "Look at the crowd folks! Look at the crowd!"

I knew that footage from all parts of the tournament, from the players arrive to the winners picking up the trophy was broadcast to bars and inns all over Luca, so most if not all of the city was probably cheering the Goers right now.

"Looks like all of Luca had turned out to cheer the Goers on!" Bobba said, mirroring my thoughts. "They know, I know and you know folks! The Luca Goers are number 1!"

I rolled my eyes, Yuna sighed and Tidus kicked one of the crates. Wakka shook his head.

"Hey, it's like this every year, ya?" he told us calmly. "Don't let it bother ya."

Tidus frowned before looking around. His eyes fell on a megaphone which had been left on the ground for some reason. He grabbed it before jumping up on one of the crates.

"Stop right there Goers!" he yelled, his voice amplified by the megaphone.

Everyone around us stopped, never mind the Goers. Even Bobba and Jimma stopped their fan-boying over them. Lulu dropped her head into her hands and Wakka sighed, shaking his head at Tidus. Yuna and I just grinned.

"You guys are smiling now," Tidus continued, "but not for long! Cause this year us Aurochs are taking the cup!"

He started to laugh like a manic, causing Yuna and I to cringe. He jumped off the crate and Wakka immediately slapped the back of his head.

"What in Yevon's name were ya doing up there?" he sighed before perking up. "We sure stood out though!"

The rest of the Aurochs took Wakka's reaction to mean that they didn't have to be mad at Tidus either and started to get excited themselves.

"We were on the sphere!"

"We were?"

"Ya! Everyone'll be talking about us now!"

Suddenly someone ran past our group. "Maester Micah is here!" he shouted to everyone on the dock.

"Already?" someone else asked, running after him.

"Yeah! The number 3 dock!"

"What's up now?" Tidus sighed, sounded tired of all the drama even though he'd just caused some himself not two minutes ago.

"Maester Micah has arrived, that's what," Yuna clarified.

Tidus frowned again, turning to her. "Micah? Maester?"

"Maester Micah is the leader of all the peoples of Spira," Lulu explained, sounding like she was getting used to having to explain stuff like this to Tidus. "He's come all the way from Bevelle. The tournament is being held to honour his 50 years as Maester."

Tidus' eyes widened. "50 years? Shouldn't he be retired by now?"

"Hey, mind your mouth now!" Wakka warned, hitting Tidus again.

"Let's all go see him!" Yuna said excitedly.

Everyone nodded in agreement and followed Yuna and Wakka as they led us to the number 3 dock. Tidus lagged at the back with me.

"So this Micah guy is in charge of the whole of Spira?" Tidus asked.

I nodded. "Pretty much. He's the head of Yevon, so he basically controls everything."

Tidus raised an eyebrow. "Yevon? Didn't you say back on the salvage ship that you weren't the biggest fan of Yevon?"

I sighed. "That's putting it lightly. I knew that coming with you guys would mean I couldn't avoid running into Yevonites. Yuna's a devotee of Yevon herself. As long as nobody looks closely enough to notice my eyes I should be alright though."

By this point we had reached the dock where the Maester's ship had pulled in. There was already a huge crowd gathered which even Kimahri couldn't see over the top of.

"Can't see a thing," Tidus complained.

Wakka shushed him just as drums started beating. We all strained to look over the top of the crowd as we saw a figure begin to walk off the boat.

As he came into view and I could see him properly, I had to force myself to not burst out laughing. The guy looked ridiculous. He had dark blue robes on with red trimmings and a green sash. The top of the robes were open, revealing two tattoos on his chest, and the sleeves were so long that they partially covered his hands. He had pretty creepily long fingers as well. But it was his hair that really topped it. It was blue too, a lighter blue than his ropes, with two long locks running down his back which looked like horns and a single spiky bang hanging over his face. I knew that since this guy had come off the Maester's ship he must be pretty important, but I sincerely hopped I never had to talk to him as I knew I wouldn't be able to take him seriously.

The men standing in front of us began muttering. Apparently neither of them recognised crazy-hair man either.

"That's a Guado, right?" one of them asked the other.

I frowned before taking a closer look at him. Well, the Guado _did_ have longer fingers than humans and the Al Bhed, and the veins on his face _were_ quite pronounced, another feature of the Guado, but…something about him seemed human.

Other people in the crowd were also now muttering about the stranger.

"Who could it be?"

"Isn't that…Maester Seymour?"

Before he could answer anyone's questions (if he'd wanted to that is) the stranger turned back around to face the ship before kneeling down and bowing. Everyone in front of us followed his example. I looked back up to the top of the gangplank and there, standing at the top with two guards, was Maester Micah.

Everyone in our group bar Tidus bowed as Maester Micah waved to the crowd. I bowed too, not wanted to stand out as being disrespectful. Tidus looked confused. I nudged him and motioned for him to bow but he didn't notice. I looked up and saw that Micah had started to walk down the gangplank towards us.

"People of Spira, I thank you for your generous welcome," he smiled.

He was a very old man, and very soft-spoken, so everyone had to be really quiet to hear him. Everyone was still bowing too, which didn't help.

"Rise Maester Seymour, and all of you as well," he said, apparently thinking the same thing I was.

The stranger, who apparently _was _Maester Seymour as someone in the crowd had thought, stood up straight, as did the rest of us.

"I present to you," Micah continued, "the son of Maester Jyscal Guado who departed for the Farplane a fortnight past. As some of you already know he has been officially ordained a Maester of Yevon."

Maester Seymour bowed to the crowd before presenting himself.

"I am Seymour Guado. I am honoured to receive the title of Maester. In life, my father Jyscal walked to foster friendship between man and Guado. I vow to carry on his legacy and to fulfil my duties as Maester to the best of my abilities."

Everyone seemed pleased to hear this, and they all bowed for the new Maester. Everyone that is except Tidus, who I think I heard huff behind me. I turned my head to see Wakka nudge him sharply.

"You too!" he told him. "Bow your head!"

As Maester Micah and his guards walked off, Maester Seymour let his gaze wash over the crowd until it rested on Yuna. He smiled at her and she smiled back, looking a little frazzled. I frowned and my fists clenched automatically, not liking the way he was looking at her. His gaze then fell on me. I didn't have time to straighten out my face before I swear I saw him smirk at me. He then promptly walked off after Maester Micah.

Wakka smiled. "Really psyches you up, huh?" he grinned, before punching his fists together. "Alright, last meeting before the match! Hustle!" he called to the rest of the Aurochs.

Tidus gaze met mine, and I could tell in that instant that he'd seen the look the new Maester had given Yuna, and that neither of us was happy about it. Wakka then dragged Tidus off for the pre-match pep-talk. Myself, Yuna and the others followed them. Wakka was trying to get everyone excited for the game, but it wasn't working on me. All I could concentrate on was hoping we wouldn't run into that Maester Seymour again.


	18. Chapter 17 - Big Brothers and Sisters

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is dedicated to Raddok and Enigma00Slayer. **

**Hope you all enjoy! Please read and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 17 – Big Brothers and Sisters**

Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri had followed Wakka off to find out who would be playing who in the first match. Tidus had to go to the little boy's room so I headed to the room where the team was waiting. Tidus caught up with me before I went in. He was munching on a hot dog and had another one in his hand which he gave to me. I smiled to show my thanks before taking a huge bite, ketchup spurting onto my lips. We both continued to eat our hot dogs as we walked into the room where the Aurochs were sitting. They all looked up at us as we entered but when they saw it was us they groaned and looked back down at the floor.

"Where's Wakka?" Tidus asked as he finished the last bite of his hot dog.

"At the match-up draws," Datto answered.

"Yuna and the others went with him," I informed him, licking ketchup off my fingers.

"We had to play the Goers in the first match last year," Letty sighed, shaking his head.

"The year before that, and the one before that too!" Jassu complained.

"That'll be why you guys have gone out in the first round so often," I thought out loud.

Tidus nudged me, frowning, but Datto just nodded.

"Well, we would have lost to anyone anyway," he sighed.

I shook my head. "Come on guys. You gotta think positive! You guys are never gonna win if you don't think that you can!"

The team bar Tidus all shook their heads. At that moment I heard the door open behind us and, turning around, we saw Wakka walk in.

"Captain Wakka!" the Aurochs exclaimed.

Wakka chuckled. "We're playing the Al Bhed Psyches first," he said gleefully. "If we win we're in the finals."

Everyone's faces lit up, even mine. Yes, they would be playing my home team, but this way I wouldn't mind who won or lost. I would be happy either way.

"Two wins and we're the champions!" Wakka cheered, elated.

Everyone else cheered too, and Wakka grinned.

"First thing's first. Let's go over the basics again boys!"

I sighed dramatically. "Well, if it's just for the boys then I guess I'm not welcome!" I pouted, trudging over to the door.

Tidus chuckled, shaking his head, and Wakka rolled his eyes. "C'mon Suki, don't be like that. You can stay if ya want."

I grinned and winked as I got to the door. "Nah, you're alright. Who wants to listen to a bunch of over-competitive boys hooting and hollering anyway?"

I ducked out the door before any of them could throw something at me.

* * *

With nothing to do I decided to mosey around Luca to see if I could find either the Psyches or Yuna and the others. I wandered towards the docks, not sure which one the Psyches' boat would have pulled in at as it changed every year. Two women were walking back from dock number 1 whispering to each other.

"I'm keeping a close eye on the Psyches this year," one said to the other.

Her friends raised an eyebrow. "Eww…Why would you root for the Al Bhed? You really do have bad taste."

The first woman let out a laugh. "I like how they cover up their faces. You saw them back there! It's just so sexy and mysterious."

Her friend scoffed at her and they walked off. I started to walk in the direction they'd come from. Soon the boat that Rikku, Brother and I had sailed on with the Psyches so many times came into view, and then I saw the back of a blonde head that I knew so well.

"Nimrook!"

He turned round quickly, and when he spotted me he grinned. We both ran at each other and he hugged me, picking me up and spinning me around. I laughed as he placed me down.

"_Where in Spira have you been?" _he asked me, sounding really worried. _"Nobody's heard anything about you since Sin attacked the ship."_

"_Is everyone okay?" _I asked quickly, and Nimrook nodded.

"_You and the human were the only two unaccounted for. Rikku and Brother have been worried sick. I've never seen either of them so scared. Rikku's not been eating."_

I bit my lip. Rikku loved her food (which made the fact that she was really skinny even more annoying), so the fact that she wasn't eating really scared me. I felt terrible that I hadn't been able to contact any of my family or friends since I washed up on Besaid. Nimrook saw my face fall and clapped me on my shoulder.

"_We'll get a message to them as soon as we can to let them know you're safe," _he reassured me. _"And then you can come back to Home with us on the ship after the tournament."_

I bit my lip. _"Actually…I obviously want them to know I'm okay, but I don't think I'm coming back to Home just yet."_

Nimrook frowned. _"What're you talking about?"_

I looked up at the guy who was like another cousin to me; who had been the one to teach me the basics of Blitzball; who even though he knew he was the best goalkeeper in Spira never boasted about it. I didn't want him to think less of me because I was traveling with a summoner almost like I was a guardian, but I didn't want to lie to him.

"_You know Yuna? My cousin from Besaid?"_

Nimrook frowned again. _"Braska's daughter?"_

I nodded. _"Well, I'm kinda traveling with her. On her pilgrimage…" _I barely murmured the last part.

His eyes widened, but he didn't step back or take his hand off my shoulder. A flicker of a smile crossed his face. _"So what, you're a guardian now or something? Cid won't exactly be over the moon about that."_

I smiled. _"Yeah, I know. But no matter what Uncle Cid says about summoners and Yevon, he cares about Yuna. She is his niece after all."_

Nimrook nodded thoughtfully. _"True…"_

Just then I heard hooting and hollering coming from the boat. I turned to see the other five members of the Psyches running down the gangplank towards us. I grinned. Looks like I'd been spotted by my _puk phydnihm ert mumdihm. _My big brothers and sisters. The Psyches had been like older siblings to me just as much as Rikku and Brother had for as long as I could remember. I loved all of them and they loved me like a little sister.

Berrik and Blappa jumped on me first, spinning me around between them like Nimrook had done. They were the two big butch members of the team. Lakkam was next, the newest member of the Psyches, and the youngest, but she could hold her own as well as the boys could. We hugged and high-fived. Judda then did the same. She was Berrik's sister, and they made a killer team. Eigaar was last; being the closest to sane of all of the Psyches he had the good sense to walk down the gangplank, not run.

"_Hey little sister!" _he grinned as he hugged me.

Nimrook quickly explained to them what I was doing there and how I'd gotten to Luca.

"_Think fast!" _Lakkam called before throwing a Blitzball at me. I caught it just before it would have hit me in the face. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"_So, you gonna come watch us kick some Auroch butt?" _Judda asked, leaning on Eigaar shoulder. He put his arm around her waist and I grinned. They'd been together for a while, and they were really cute together.

"_It might not be as easy as you think," _I grinned. _"They're not half bad!"_

Blappa laughed. _"Oh come on Suki. They suck. You've seen them yourself; they lose every year."_

"_Well, you never know," _I smiled._ "They might just surprise you this year."_

They all rolled their eyes and smiled pityingly at me. Nimrook looked up at the huge clock on one of Luca's tallest buildings.

"_We'd better get set for the match guys," _he said. _"Not much time left."_

Everyone nodded and said goodbye before heading away from the dock, all promising they'd let Rikku, Brother and Uncle Cid know I was okay. Nimrook stayed back and hugged me. Before he pulled away he whispered something in my ear.

"_Tyr'd mdea dyy scymi dy dni mollyrih."_

Don't stay too close to the summoner.

* * *

I was walking back towards the centre of town to see if Wakka was finished with the team talk. I knew that Tidus would be bored to tears by now. I couldn't help but think about what Nimrook had said though. Why did he warn me about staying close to Yuna? It didn't make any sense…

"Suki!"

I looked up to see Yuna racing towards me, Lulu and Kimahri not far behind.

"You'll never guess what we heard in town!" she exclaimed. "Sir Auron! He's here!"

I frowned. "Auron? How do you know about Auron?"

Yuna smiled. "Sir Auron was my father's guardian along with Sir Jecht."

My eyes widened. "Seriously? Well come on then! Let's go tell Tidus!"

I grabbed Yuna's hand and pulled her as we ran towards where Wakka was having the team talk. I saw Lulu roll her eyes at our enthusiasm as she quickened her pace to keep up with us, as did Kimahri.

We burst into the room and Tidus eyes flew open. I chuckled. He must've fallen asleep during Wakka's pep-talk.

Yuna quickly walked up to Tidus.

"There you are! Someone said they saw Sir Auron in a café!" she told him.

Tidus' eyes widened. "Auron!?"

Yuna nodded, smiling. "Yes, Sir Auron! Let's go find him!"

Tidus nodded and stood up to follow Yuna, but Wakka saw him leaving.

"Hey! Heyeyeyeyeyeyeyey!" he cried before Tidus or Yuna could leave. "The game starts like real soon! Come back quick, ya?"

He sounded quite panicked, but Tidus nodded. "Hey, I'll be back."

Wakka sighed, but nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Tidus raised an eyebrow before walking over to Wakka. "Hey Wakka, you're stiff man."

Wakka tried to relax his face, which just made him look really stupid, and Tidus shook his head.

"No, not your face. Just breathe out. Relax. Like this," Tidus said, demonstrating by breathing in and out slowly. Wakka copied him and visibly relaxed. Yuna and I giggled, and Lulu shook her head in embarrassment.

I walked over and nudged Wakka to get his attention. "Don't worry Wakka. I'll make sure he gets back in time for the game. We ain't gonna leave you a player down, I promise."

Yuna and Tidus nodded in agreement, and Wakka smiled. "Alright. You make sure he gets back in time Suki! Or else it's on your head!"

I grinned and saluted to him before walking back to Yuna with Tidus.

"Maybe now we can find Sir Jecht," Yuna smiled.

"Huh? How?" Tidus asked, confused.

"Sir Auron was also my father's guardian," she explained. "So he might know where Sir Jecht is! Let's go now!"

Yuna ran out of the room quickly followed by Kimahri. Tidus just stood where we was, staring at the floor in shock.

"You okay?" I asked.

He slowly shook his head. "How…how did Auron get here?"

I thought about it for a moment. "How do you know for sure that it's the same Auron that you knew from Zanarkand?"

Tidus looked up at me. "It _is_ the same Auron. I just know it. It _is_."

I sighed. "Well, I guess we'll just have to go see for ourselves. Some gossip in a café that Yuna overheard doesn't confirm anything."

We walked out the room and round the corner, following where Yuna and Kimahri had gone. As we rounded the corner Blappa and Berrik were standing there talking quietly. When they heard us they looked up, and when they saw it was me their faces lit up, but I quickly shook my head. I knew that Lulu and Wakka could probably still hear us from where we were, and I didn't want either of them to know I was an Al Bhed. Not yet anyway. Luckily they understood and didn't say anything.

Tidus however didn't remember that talking to the Al Bhed could make people think less of him. Idiot.

"Hey! Al Bhed Psyches right?" he greeted them.

They turned to look at him and I rolled my eyes. Blappa and Berrik only spoke very basic Spiran. This wasn't going to go very well.

"Some Al Bhed saved me the other day and…this girl Rikku gave me food and…and Suki here…"

I kicked him into silence before he said anything else. He groaned and looked at me and I nodded over to the open door into the room where Wakka and Lulu were still in. He got the message and shut up.

He turned back to Blappa and Berrik and realised they hadn't said anything. He chuckled nervously.

"You don't understand me, do you?" he sighed. "Eh…anyway…"

He started talking louder and slower. "If you see Rikku, tell her thanks for me!"

I smirked. "Tidus, they're not deaf," I muttered.

Tidus laughed softly before looking back up at the boys. "Oh, and as for the first game, may the best team win."

He turned and walked off. I mouthed _"Sorry"_ in Al Bhed at the boys before following him.

That was when I heard them muttering behind me, so quietly that it was only because of my excellent eavesdropping skills that I could hear them.

"_We need to report."_

"_But what about Suki? She changes everything."_

"_It doesn't matter. We need to report about the Lady summoner."_

I stopped walking. They needed to report what about Yuna? I turned to ask them what in Spira they were talking about but they had gone.


	19. Chapter 18 - True Meaning

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is dedicated to finalfan21 and Solaris Prime.**

**Reply to finalfan21's review: Thank you! I'm glad you've liked it so far. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

**Hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Please read and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 18 – True Meaning**

Saying that Luca is huge is a bit of an understatement, and with the Blitzball tournament being on it was insanely overcrowded. So finding Sir Auron, if he really was here, wasn't going to be the easiest thing in the world.

First Tidus and I made our way through the communal areas where the other teams were preparing for their first matches, more to pick up any gossip we heard about Sir Auron than anything else; it was unlikely he'd actually be there. But we didn't hear anything. While we were doing this Yuna and Kimahri walked the lengths of docks 1 and 2 to no avail. We met back up with them and walked down docks 3 and 4 together. Still nothing. Seriously, was this Auron guy a ninja or something?

We did pass the O'aka guy Tidus had run into on the ship. Apparently he was a merchant and was selling his goods to the crowds waiting for the opening match. He had quite a few customers since the stalls that would normally be open in the stadium were closed to make room for the spectators.

After we'd been searching for a while we came to an area blocked off by officials. There was a man with a large camera and a woman with speaking into a microphone there too, along with a large crowd of Blitzball fans.

I sighed. We'd gone down this road because it was a shortcut into town. It would take ages to go back and walk the long way round. Yuna heard me sigh and turned round to face me. She winked before walking up to one of the officials.

"I'm sorry," she said while she bowed. "Please let me though."

The official frowned for a moment, before his eyes widened as he realised who Yuna was. "Of course my Lady," he stammered before stepping aside, bowing his head in respect.

I grinned and nudged Yuna. "Abusing your power or what?" I muttered, and Yuna giggled.

She turned to Tidus. "Hey, let's go," she smiled.

Tidus looked a bit shocked. He looked at all the people standing around us, most of whom were now staring at Yuna, murmuring to each other.

"You're _really _famous!" Tidus stated the obvious.

Yuna giggled nervously.

We walked past the crowd and entered a much quieter part of town, since it was meant to be off limits to the public. From where we were standing, in one of the many town squares next to the waterside, we could see pretty much the whole of Luca. The enormity of the city really hit me.

"This place is huge…" I murmured.

Yuna nodded in agreement. "I hope we don't get separated…"

"Yuna!"

We both turned to see Tidus grinning at us. He put two fingers into his mouth and whistled loudly.

I rolled my eyes and grinned. Brother often whistled like that on the ship if he was trying to get Rikku and mine's attention, especially if we were gossiping in a corner which admittedly we did do a lot.

Yuna however seemed surprised. "What was that?" she asked, her eyes wide.

Tidus laughed. "In Zanarkand, we do this to cheer on Blitz players," he explained before doing it again.

I raised an eyebrow at Yuna's face. She didn't know what a whistle was? Maybe it was an Al Bhed thing so Yuna wouldn't know about it? I had no idea.

Yuna touched her lips questioningly. Tidus walked over and nodded encouragingly.

"You try it too!" he smiled. "Put your fingers in your mouth like this," he demonstrated, touching his forefinger and his thumb together and placing them in his mouth.

Yuna frowned and tried to copy him, but used her middle finger instead of her forefinger. "Like this?"

Tidus shook his head. "No, not like that. Like this," he showed her again. "Then, you just blow."

Yuna nodded and, frowning in concentration, she tried to whistle. Not a sound. She tried again. Nothing.

"It's not working," she sighed.

"Practise!" Tidus smiled confidently.

Yuna smiled back and nodded. "Okay."

"Hey, use that if we get separated," he suggested. "Then, I'll come running. Okay?"

Yuna smiled, but looked uncertain. Not surprising seeing as she couldn't whistle yet.

"Guess we should just stick together," I advised.

"Till Yuna can do it at least," Tidus agreed.

Yuna grinned. "Yes sir!"

I looked over at Kimahri and I swear I saw him smile ever so slightly. I slipped over to stand next to him while Tidus and Yuna continued talking and practising whistling.

"Quick question: when we were still on Besaid and you attacked Tidus, was that to make sure he could protect Yuna?" I asked quietly.

Kimahri nodded sharply but didn't say anything.

I smiled, turning back to watch Tidus and Yuna. "You really care about her, don't you?"

Kimahri nodded again. "Kimahri will always protect Yuna. It is Kimahri's duty."

I nodded in agreement. "Well, you're doing a very good job of it," I assured him.

I thought I saw another glimmer of a smile on his face again before he began to follow Tidus and Yuna who were now heading further into town.

* * *

"Whoa! This is a pretty big town!"

I rolled my eyes that it had taken Tidus so long to realise that. But then again, looking around yet another of Luca's massive town squares, especially since this one was completely empty, I could see why he's stated the obvious.

"Luca is the second largest city in Spira," Yuna told him.

I walked past him with my hands behind my head, grinning. "If you think this place is big, wait till you see Bevelle! It's _huge_."

Tidus shrugged. "I thought every town was little," he admitted. "You know, like Besaid and Kilika."

"Towns don't usually get bigger than that," Yuna said sadly.

Tidus looked at her questioningly.

"Because when a lot of people start to gather…" she began to explain.

"Sin?" Tidus guessed.

"Mmm…"

Yuna was now looking away from us, so Tidus looked at me.

"What about Luca?" he asked. "It's safe here?

"It's not any different," I said, "but the stadium's here."

Yuna nodded and turned back to face us. "The Crusaders fight to protect it with all their strength."

"They protect the stadium?" Tidus asked, confused.

Yuna nodded. "Blitzball's really the only entertainment we have," she explained.

I sighed. "Spira's a little short on fun these days."

"Whoa…" Tidus murmured, sounding a little shocked. "Talk about pressure…"

Yuna laughed and nodded. "That's right."

I looked over at Tidus. "Is Zanarkand like this too?"

Tidus looked around at the city as if he was trying to compare it to his home.

"Hmm…well there are more buildings, all tall ones and cramped together," he described.

Yuna's mouth dropped open. "Wow…they must be _so _tall…" she marvelled. "Don't you ever get dizzy?"

Tidus chuckled, and Yuna shook her head, embarrassed at her question.

"Let's go find Sir Auron," she pressed, before running off, closely followed by Kimahri, then Tidus and myself.

* * *

We climbed quite a few flights of stairs and reached a platform on some sea cliffs from where we could see the docks. Unexpectedly, there were two very familiar faces already there. Luzzu and Gatta looked as surprised to see us as we were to see them.

"What you doing here?" the younger of the two Crusaders asked. "The tournament's about to start!"

"I'm looking for someone," Tidus explained.

"Well you're looking in the wrong place," Luzzu told us. "There aren't many people here."

"Everyone's either at the stadium or watching the game on the sphere," Gatta explained. "They love their Blitzball."

"Aren't you gonna watch?" I asked.

"We'd like to but we're waiting for some couriers, "Luzzu explained.

He turned to look up the stairs next to him. "And they're late…" he muttered before turning back to Gatta, grinning. "Wanna ditch the couriers and go watch the game?" he asked.

Gatta looked shocked, but also a little hopeful. "But…but we're still on duty! What about the mission sir?"

Luzzu shook his head at his young companion. "See what I mean?" he smiled at us. "We might be a little late but we _will _go watch you play," he promised.

"You'd better be winning when we get there," Gatta grinned.

"Uh…yes sir!" Tidus said, the building pressure he felt evident on his face.

* * *

Taking Luzzu's advice that nobody would be around that area we headed back the way we'd came. As we did we passed a café. Yuna stopped and pointed at it.

"That's the café someone said they saw Sir Auron in!" she told us excitedly.

Without another word we ran in quickly. The café was pretty full with people wanting to watch the game on the sphere. Tidus looked around for a few minutes before he let out a huge sigh.

"Auron's not here," he groaned.

"Hmm…" Yuna mused.

She looked over at me at the same time I looked over at her. We both grinned and nodded before walking to opposite sides of the café and beginning to talk to the customers, asking if anyone had seen Sir Auron.

A few minutes later the majority of the customers let out a large gasp. I turned to see Kimahri being pushed around by two much larger Ronso.

"Why not talk Kimahri?" one of them jeered. "Not see Yenke for ten years. Say something."

Kimahri remained silent.

The Ronso, Yenke, started to get angry. "Kimahri forget Yenke? Forget Biran?"

The other Ronso, Biran, then spoke with a much deeper voice than Yenke. "Leave Kimahri, Yenke. Kimahri is small Ronso."

I gritted my teeth. What was with these guys?

"Kimahri so small. Can't see Yenke and Biran's faces," Biran continued to bully.

Yenke laughed. "Kimahri forget Ronso friends?"

"If you're his friends then Kimahri doesn't need enemies," I spoke up, walking up to stand next to him.

Kimahri looked down at me momentarily. He looked grateful, but also worried. I could see why: Yenke and Biran towered over me. Maybe this wasn't the best idea…

Yenke seemed to not hear me. He leaned in closer to Kimahri.

"We taught you much! Biran taught Kimahri to be strong Ronso!" he bellowed.

Biran pushed Kimahri again. "Maybe taught too much!" he sneered.

Tidus frowned angrily at the two taller Ronso. "Take them on," he murmured quietly to Kimahri.

Kimahri took a fighting stance with only the slightest hesitation. Yenke laughed again, and Kimahri punched him in the face. It took all my self-control to not applaud him, maybe tossing one of my grenades into the mix for good measure. Everyone in the café gasped again, obviously worried that a fight was going to break out.

"Take it outside!" the man behind the counter called. "The tournament's starting, ya hear?"

Kimahri looked round to face the speaker, and Biran took the opportunity to punch Kimahri back for Yenke, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud.

Tidus looked in two minds about what to do. On the one hand he obviously wanted to help Kimahri. We both did, although how much help we'd be in a fight against two 6ft tall Ronso was debatable. On the other hand, the game was starting, and if we didn't hot foot it to the stadium tout suite, Wakka was going to have our guts for garters.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Maester Micah appear on the sphere behind the counter. He bowed to the crowd in the stadium, and everyone in the café gathered round the counter to watch, the fight between Kimahri and the other Ronso forgotten, at least momentarily.

"Today on this glorious day players from all over Spira have assembled here to participate in this great contest of bravery, skill and strength," Maester Micah began his opening speech of the tournament.

I could see Maester Seymour standing behind Maester Micah on the sphere, and I shivered automatically. I did not like the look of that guy...for some reason he just gave me a bad feeling.

"All of these fine teams, equally renowned, deserve to win the cup today," Micah continued. "Such is the nature of this contest, let us, the spectators, play our role accordingly."

At this point the camera panned round to face the captains of each of the blitzball teams, as it was tradition for them to stand in front of the Maester's podium for the opening speech. There was Berrik representing the Psyches, and Bickson for the Goers. He actually looked the tiniest bit intimidated for once since he was standing next to the gigantic Gazna Ronso representing the Ronso Fangs.

A few along from Gazna was Wakka. He looked worried. I didn't blame him; there were only mere minutes till the game started and Tidus, his secret weapon for the game, wasn't there yet. I looked round at Tidus, who was still glancing between the screen and Kimahri who was starting to pick himself up off the floor.

"Let us sing to the glory of the winners," the speech continued, "and applaud equally the valour of the defeated."

The camera panned back to Maester Micah as he bowed to the captains. "Contestants, may Yevon be with you," he concluded.

There was a loud swooshing noise as the camera moved to face the Blitz arena which was now slowly starting to fill up with water. The Aurochs and the Psyches took their positions at platforms on top of the stadium. Wakka and Berrik shook hands. The tournament was about to begin.

I turned to Tidus. "Tidus! Come on! The game's about to start!"

Tidus looked up at the sphere and panic filled his face as he spotted Wakka standing on top of the stadium. He looked around franticly before stopping, the panic slowly turning to horror. He locked eyes with me and spoke very quietly.

"Where's Yuna?"

My eyes widened and I whipped around. Oh crap…Yuna wasn't here.

"Kimahri! Yuna's gone!"

I looked round at Tidus just in time to see Kimahri's face turn to one filled with dread before Biran punched him again, Yenke still having not picked himself up off the ground. Kimahri shook the punch off before running out of the café, followed swiftly by Tidus and myself.

As soon as we left the café we saw Lulu running towards us.

"Where in Spira have you been?" she cried. "Yuna's been kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches."

I stopped short. Tidus forgot all about subtlety and looked right at me, his eyes wide. I can imagine what my face must have looked like. I was shocked. The Psyches – the people I thought of as family – had kidnapped my cousin?

I barely registered what Lulu said next. "In exchange for her safe return they want the Aurochs to lose."

Kimahri growled under his breath, his fists clenching. Tidus' head snapped back round to face Lulu at her last comment. I was still staring at her in shock, probably gawking.

"If they're just Blitzball players I doubt they'll do anything drastic," Lulu continued. "But we shouldn't take chances. Let's go get her."

"I'm going too," Tidus said without a second thought. Kimahri looked like he was going to protest but Tidus shook his head. "This'll be no problem. They're telling the Aurochs to throw the game. As if they needed to. I mean, how good a team can they be?"

He nudged me as he said that, obviously hoping for some sort of reaction. He didn't get one.

"Wakka said the same thing," Lulu smiled. "He'll take care of the game. We should go get Yuna."

"I'm coming too."

Lulu looked down at me. "Sakura, it's too dangerous. We don't know what the Al Bhed could have ready for any attempted rescues. The best thing you could do is get to the stadium and try to tell Wakka we've got this under control."

I looked Lulu straight in the eyes. "No Lulu. I'm coming."

Lulu frowned as she looked at me. I think for the first time she didn't see me as just a kid. She knew I wasn't going anywhere. She nodded slowly.

"Okay then. The Al Bhed boat is in…"

"Dock 4," I finished her sentence.

Lulu nodded again, looking less surprised than I thought she'd be that I knew where the boat was. "Let's go."

Kimahri, Tidus and I all nodded before we began to run in the direction of the docks. Tidus ran beside me.

"Are you gonna be okay with this?" he asked.

I nodded, but didn't say anything, my mind working overtime.

Tidus sighed quietly but looked over at me again. "You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?"

I nodded again, and smiled this time. He smiled back in acknowledgment before running ahead to catch up with Kimahri. He was good, I'd give him that; he knew I needed to think things through.

Blappa…Berrik…Lakkam…Judda…Eigaar…Nimrook…Why would they do something like this? If nothing else I knew they cared about me, and they knew I cared about Yuna. How could they do this to me?

That's when I realised. Nimrook had told me. He'd tried to warn me.

_Tyr'd mdea dyy scymi dy dni mollyrih._

Don't stay too close to the summoner.

They'd tried to keep me safe. They had warned me. They'd been planning this all along.


	20. Chapter 19 - Rescue

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Those of you who know FFX well have probably noticed that I stick almost exactly to the original dialogue of the game, with the exception of sometimes give Suki lines that normally other characters would say. However, this changes a bit in this chapter. When everyone's on the Al Bhed boat, in the game Yuna and Tidus have a short conversation about what happened to him while on the Al Bhed ship. Since in this story Suki has already told Yuna what happened this won't happen. Things like this may happen later on in the story too. I know I'm allowed to use Poetic Licence with this since it's my story and all, but I just thought I should let you guys know. Please don't eat me for missing some stuff out or changing it!**

**Anyway, as always I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's dedicated to finalfantasy10. Please read and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 19 - Rescue**

Since the majority of Luca was now in the stadium watching the Blitz game, Lulu, Kimahri, Tidus and I could run to dock 4 without anyone giving us funny looks at why we all looked so worried and flustered.

I was still reeling. I swore I was going to strangle the first member of the Psyches that I saw, and if it was one of the boys probably kick them where it counts just for good measure. Nimrook especially had a lot to answer for. Even though right at this moment he was defending his team's goal against the Aurochs I had no doubt he either came up with the plan to kidnap Yuna or at least had a very large part in it. And for what? What are they expecting to gain from kidnapping Yuna? Cause if it was simply so they could win a Blitzball game (against a team they all expected to beat anyway) then I would never speak to any of them again.

We weren't too far away from the docks when I spotted something lying on the path ahead of us.

"Stop!" I cried suddenly.

Lulu, Kimahri and Tidus all skidded to a stop. Lulu saw what I had seen and frowned.

"How did they get here?" she wondered.

"The Psyches'll have left them out for us," I muttered. "Everyone keep quiet and try to tiptoe round them. They'll only activate if they sense movement."

By this point I didn't care if Lulu and Kimahri found out I was Al Bhed. All I cared about now was finding Yuna. And kicking Nimrook's butt from here to Zanarkand and back if I found out he had anything to do with this.

Lulu and Kimahri, both of whom had now figured out what the things in front of us were, nodded at me and didn't seem to mind me ordering them around. Tidus on the other hand, while he nodded when I said to tiptoe round them, still seemed to not know what the things were, and he looked very confused.

He found out soon enough. As it turns out, trying to get a Yevon-knows how heavy Ronso to tiptoe without making a sound is about as easy as getting Brother to do the laundry. A heavy paw thumped on the floor and Kimahri grimaced just before the two machina before us sprang into life.

The four of us jumped back and took up fighting stances, Tidus, Kimahri and I taking up our weapons, Lulu summoning her doll.

"Whoa!" Tidus cried. "What are _they_?"

"Machina," I sighed.

"Salvaged by the Al Bhed," Lulu finished.

Tidus flashed a look at me and I nodded sharply. I knew what he was asking without him saying anything: was it okay to take these things out?

And it was. These teeny things weren't important machina. Not only that, but they were pretty weak. We could take them out easy.

"These are weak against lightning, right?"

It took me a few moments to realise that Lulu was asking me a question.

"Uh…yeah," I managed to finally answer. "A good blast or two should take one of these out easy."

Lulu nodded and proceeded to raise her arm above her head, casting lightning spell after lightning spell. Tidus, Kimahri and I ran in and slashed at them between her spells, being careful to jump back out of the way before she electrocuted us instead of the machina.

Once the machina had been reduced to two piles of scrap metal, I expected Lulu to mention something about how I'd known so much about them, but she didn't. She just kept going towards the docks. I frowned but followed her.

Two more small groups of machina attacked us on our way to the docks, but we beat them easily. The Psyches had clearly been expecting a rescue attempt, but I did wonder why they'd put the weakest and simplest machina in our way in a (rather terrible) attempt to stop us rather than some stronger machina. Since almost everyone else in the city was in the Blitz stadium watching the game there wouldn't be much of a chance that any machina they set out would hurt anyone other than us. Not that I was complaining that their defence was easy to take down.

Once these other groups of machina had been taken down, we found ourselves standing under one of the screens broadcasting the game only a few meters away from the docks. Bobba and Jimma were commentating again. I could see from the bottom right corner of the screen that the five minute game was already over half-way through, and the score was 2 – 2.

"The Aurochs are keeping the score tied with some excellent defence folks!" Bobba said, echoing what I had just noticed.

The camera shifted to Wakka. He'd just caught a pass from Datto, but three of the Psyches were quickly cutting through the water towards him, moving too fast for me to see who it was. One of them, possibly Berrik, rammed into him and caused him to drop the ball. Two of the three Psyches then chased after it while Blappa attempted to tackle Wakka again. He managed to dodge out of the way but was clearly in pain.

"OOOOHHHH! He'll feel that one in the morning!" Bobba cried as Wakka was tackled.

"Ah, but the referee doesn't call the foul," Jimma noticed. "Wakka's taking a real beating out there."

The camera zoomed in on Wakka for a moment. He was grimacing and was hunched over slightly. He looked sore, but his eyes also looked sad. I realised he still didn't know if Yuna was okay. I gritted my teeth. We needed to find her, for everyone's sake.

"We're still in there!" Tidus said, trying to look on the bright side.

Lulu shook her head at the screen. "He won't last…" she sighed. "Wakka's always like that."

I glanced over at her. Her eyes weren't moving from the screen which was still showing Wakka. She didn't look annoyed like I'd though she would though. She looked worried, and maybe even a little bit upset. What do you know…looks like Lulu _does _have a heart.

Tidus clearly didn't notice what I had and presumed that Lulu was just being catty again. "_Ouch!_" he teased.

Lulu rolled her eyes and turned to Kimahri and me, purposely ignoring Tidus. "Let's go," she said.

Kimahri and I nodded and followed Lulu as she ran off away from the screen and in the direction of the dock. Tidus stole one last glance at the screen before following us.

As we all bolted towards the end of the dock, my heart dropped as I realised the boat was moving away from us.

"We're gonna have to jump!" I yelled to the others as we ran, stating the complete obvious.

Lulu nodded. "Let's go," she said again. That seemed to be turning into her catchphrase.

All four of us jumped for the still-moving ship once we reached the end of the dock. We managed to land on the deck, and, as a bonus, we all kept our balance. However, just as we landed and panel on the floor started to slide backwards and something began to rise up out of the gap. We all took up our fighting stances again, but when I saw what it was I gulped.

The giant machina that appeared in front of us was just that – giant. It was made out of orange, blue and silver metal. Its body had lots of holes in it, like dozens of little cannons. It supported itself on two thin and rather stumpy legs. Mounted on top of its oval-shaped body were four rectangular metal structures: two sticking up and spinning around, and the other two curving round the first two to face us.

Those cannon things I mentioned? They were used for pelting whoever was fighting it with Blitzballs. That's where it got its name from. The Oblitzerator.

I had been on the salvage ship when Rikku's team found the metal that was going to be used as the main body of the giant defensive machina. Brother had told me it was going to be used as a weapon against anyone who tried to attack or invade Home. Now it was being used against one of the Al Bhed it was meant to protect: me.

I sighed. Brother was going to kill me if he found out I helped wreck this thing. Oh well! Can't be helped. I grinned to myself. This thing was going down. We had a very important advantage here: I knew this thing's weak spots.

Before I could tell anyone anything, Lulu spoke up. "Suki. What do we do with this thing?"

I gaped at her. Okay, either she just presumed I was somehow good at taking out machina or she knew I was an Al Bhed. Whichever it was I couldn't think about it now. We had a summoner to save.

"It's weak to lighting," I told her, "but if you hit it too many times with thunder magic it'll throw a Mute Ball at you."

"What does a Mute Ball do?" Tidus asked.

"I mutes you, funnily enough," I explained. "It means you can't speak, which means Lulu wouldn't be able to cast spells for a while."

"Ah. Okay, got it. Mute Balls: bad," Tidus nodded to himself.

"You might be able to dodge it though," I added, speaking to Lulu again. "If I see one coming towards you I'll chuck a grenade at it." I patted the bag around my waist which held my trusty explosives.

Lulu nodded. "Anything else we should know about?" she asked.

"Yeah. It might use its Blitzball Rush attack. If you see it looking like it's charging up then either take cover or get ready to dodge. Fast," I warned.

Lulu and Kimahri, who were both standing to my left, nodded. As I turned to Tidus on my right I saw that he was looking at a piece of machinery next to us.

"We can use this crane!" he said to us.

Lulu looked over at me and I nodded. It could work. I ran over and hit the buttons on the control panel at the side. It made a slightly clunking noise, then nothing.

"Come on! Move!" I yelled at it, before muttering a long stream of curse words in Al Bhed at it in frustration.

"It's probably out of power," Lulu concluded, before sending a thunder spell towards it, narrowly missing me.

"Hey! Watch it!" I cried.

As the thunder struck the crane, it made a whirling sound, like it was going to start up, before it powered down again. I groaned in annoyance before turning back to Lulu.

"D'you think you could do that a few more times?" I asked.

Lulu nodded before throwing more thunder magic at the crane. Tidus and Kimahri kept fighting the Oblitzerator, alternating slicing at it between them. I threw the occasional grenade in the mix so that I was actually helping, but I mostly just kept pushing buttons.

At one point the Oblitzerator had seriously weakened Tidus and Kimahri, so Lulu and I gave up on the crane for a while to help the guys fight. I had a spare potion that Wakka had given me in my pouch alongside my grenades and I threw half at Tidus and half at Kimahri. As it wasn't a full potion it would take a while for them to get back to full strength, so Lulu and I took over the fight. Lulu attacked it with thunder magic while I ducked in and slashed at it with my sword. After a few lighting attacks, the machina looked pretty angry (if that's even possible). I thought it was going to throw a Mute Ball at Lulu and was getting ready to throw a grenade at it, but then I spotted little sparks of electricity flying over it.

"Blitzball Rush!" I cried. "Get down!"

Lulu and I ducked behind the crane as it started erratically firing the blue and white balls. Kimahri and Tidus didn't have time to move and so they literally hit the deck and lay as flat as they could hoping that the balls would miss them. Luckily they did.

Kimahri and Tidus stood back up once the Oblitzerator's attack was finished, the potion having done its job. Lulu and I went back to trying to fix the crane. With a few more thunder spells from Lulu (and a few kicks from me just for good measure) it finally spluttered to life. Lulu jumped back in between Tidus and Kimahri as I moved the controls on the crane, extending it a bringing it round to above the giant machina. I let it drop down and it grabbed onto the spinning metal structures on its back. As I pulled the arm of the crane back up then machina was lifted up into the air. I shook it a few times and it dropped back down, the silver metal from its top in the crane's grasp, leaving the machina weak with its circuits exposed. I dropped the sliver metal into the sea before jumping back over to stand next to Tidus.

"You want to finish it?" Lulu asked, a slight smirk on her face.

I grinned. "It would be my genuine pleasure."

I pulled a grenade out of my bag, pulled the tab off with my teeth and threw it into the exposed innards of the Oblitzerator. The four of us covered our ears as the machina fizzed and crackled, before exploding in a huge fireball, which not only destroyed the machina but also knocked out an Al Bhed that had just run out from the hold of the ship behind it.

The door to the hold opened again and Yuna walked out, looking surprisingly calm for someone who had just been kidnapped. Lulu and I both ran up to her and hugged her. Yuna laughed.

"I hope you hurt them," Lulu remarked, brushing some hair away from Yuna's face, checking for any cuts or bruises.

Yuna giggled. "A little," she admitted, glancing over at me to make sure I was alright with that.

I grinned back at her and nodded. I hoped Yuna had given them a do in. Preferably involving Valefor or Ifrit clawing someone's eyes out.

I looked over to the unconscious Al Bhed lying next to the door. I walked over to him, as did Tidus. I didn't recognise him, which meant he probably hadn't been a member of Uncle Cid's crew on the salvage ship; he was very particular about who he let on.

Tidus looked down at the Al Bhed, his face falling slightly, before looking around at the rest of the ship. He sighed quietly before looking down at me.

"This isn't the same boat, is it?" he asked.

I shook my head. "They wouldn't bring the salvage ship here."

"What're you two talking about?" Yuna asked, turning to face us.

Before I could make something up since Lulu and Kimahri were standing _right there_, Tidus spilled.

"I was wondering if this was the same Al Bhed ship that I met Suki on," he said, before realising what he said.

He clapped a hand over his mouth and looked down at me, his eyes begging me to not hit him. I sighed, making a mental note to slap him later if this went horribly wrong.

Lulu and Kimahri made no comment. Yuna just smiled sadly.

"I'm guessing it's not?" she asked, and we both shook our heads.

Yuna sighed. "I had hoped I might get to see Cid."

"Who's Cid?" Tidus asked, hopping up to sit on one of the railings at the side of the ship.

"He's my uncle, but I've never actually met him," Yuna explained.

Tidus frowned. "Wait…So that means you're Al Bhed too Yuna?"

"On my mother's side, yes," Yuna nodded. "Cid is my mother's brother."

"And mine," I added.

Tidus turned to look at me. "Hang on…you're cousins?"

I nodded and he frowned. "You failed to mention that," he muttered.

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry…"

I turned to Lulu and Kimahri. They didn't look surprised, although Lulu had raised an eyebrow.

"You're not mad?" I asked, surprised nobody had yelled at me yet.

Lulu frowned. "Why would we be angry? We already knew you were Al Bhed."

I glanced at Yuna and she shook her head. Lulu smiled slightly. "Yuna didn't say anything. I knew from the way Yuna reacted when she saw you that you must know each other from a long time ago. When we were on the ship going to Kilika I got a closer look at you and saw your eyes."

I subconsciously squeezed them shut, before opening one of them and biting my lip. "Are you not angry that I went into the temples at Besaid and Kilika? Al Bhed aren't meant to go in there."

Lulu smiled again. "Says who? Yuna's half Al Bhed after all and she's allowed in."

I opened both eyes and sighed slightly, knowing full well that the only reason Yuna was allowed to go into the temples was because nobody actually knew she was half Al Bhed. The only evidence of it on her was that one of her eyes was green and had the Al Bhed swirl for a pupil instead of the bright blue of the other.

Tidus saw that I still wasn't sure about being accepted so he quickly changed the subject.

"So how come you've never met your uncle before?" he asked Yuna.

"He became distant after my mother married," she explained. "But she told me to seek him out if I ever needed help."

Lulu stepped in front of Yuna for a moment and looked intently at Tidus. "Don't tell Wakka about Yuna's lineage," she warned. She looked over at me. "Or Sakura's for that matter," she added, earning her a grateful smile from me. "The thing about Wakka? He never had that much love for the Al Bhed."

I sighed. I really liked Wakka. He was a really nice guy, and I hated that I had to hide who I was from him. But I knew I had to. If he knew what I was he'd probably disown me.

Thinking about Wakka made me realise something. The poor guy still didn't know if Yuna was safe! Yuna must have thought the same thing as me as we both turned to Lulu and simultaneously yelled, "THE GAME!"

Tidus smacked himself on the side of the head for forgetting about that. Lulu quickly walked to the middle of the deck and pulled out a flare (Out of where exactly I have absolutely no idea). She made sure none of us were standing close enough to get hurt and she let it off. It flew up about ten meters before flashing a blinding light. I smiled. Wakka would definitely have seen that.

Tidus was jogging around the deck getting himself hyped up before he stopped, looking over the side of the boat. "Um, guys? Why are we still moving further and further away from Luca?"

The rest of us snapped our heads round to watch the port of Luca move further and further away from us. The boat hadn't stopped moving this entire time.

"Damn it," I sighed, before busting though the still open door to the bridge to get to the control room. I had to turn this ship around so we could make sure Wakka kicked the Psyches' butts.

Not to mention I still had to do that myself. Nimrook was in a _heck_ of a lot of trouble.


	21. Chapter 20 - Kicking Some Serious Butt

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: A lot of this chapter is going to seem like repetition since most of it is taken up by the Aurochs and Goers Blitzball game, so I'm really sorry is this chapter is boring. More drama and fighting in the next chapter; promise! Please review!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Blackangelwings853, RedDragonforce 1, XxRikela-chanxX and MsWolfGirl.**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 20 – Kicking Some Serious Butt**

Yuna, Tidus and I ran off the boat onto the dock, Kimahri and Lulu close behind us, and skidded to a stop in front of the same screen we had seen Wakka getting tackled on. We had already missed the end of the game but we could see the result from the graphic at the bottom right corner of the screen. 3 – 2 to the Aurochs. Wakka was hovering in the water, still hunched over in pain, but the rest of the boys were celebrating. Nimrook and the Psyches were already leaving the sphere. The camera followed them and, as much as they were trying to hide it, they were clearly sulking. I smirked. They deserved it after what could have happened to Yuna.

Tidus punched the air. "We won!" he cheered.

"We did it!" Yuna cried excitedly. "We're in the finals!"

Lulu shook her head slightly. "Not the most…_graceful_ win," she sighed. "If it was Chappu, he'd still be standing."

I sighed under my breath. I knew Lulu missed Wakka's brother, although I still wasn't sure why, but she had no right to criticise Wakka like that. He'd done his best, and they'd won! Of course he'd been distracted; he hadn't known if Yuna was safe!

Tidus seemed to be thinking the same thing as me, but he was apparently slightly less intimidated by Lulu than I was, because he blatantly stated what he was thinking.

"Hey, aren't you being just a _little _unfair?" he frowned.

Lulu's turned her head towards him with a steely look in her eye. "_Excuse me_?"

I bit my lip, as did Yuna. It was official: Tidus was an idiot.

He didn't back down though, credit to him. "I know I could never take Chappu's place," he said gently. "You're the one who told Wakka that, right Lulu? And I don't think Wakka would ever try to take Chappu's…"

I facepalmed, and Yuna looked like she wanted to as well. He had probably touched on the most sensitive area possible. Lulu was going to kill him.

As predicted, Lulu gave him daggers. Seriously, if looks could kill, Tidus would have died at least five times in the space of two minutes.

"You don't want to finish that sentence," she spat frostily.

Tidus stepped back, shaking his head and holding his hands out in front of him. He realised he'd crossed a line, but before he could apologise Lulu had marched off in the direction of the room the Aurochs were waiting in for the next game. Yuna flashed a sympathetic smile at Tidus before running after her. Tidus sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"That was a dumb move…" he muttered.

I gave him a look. "You think?"

He glared down at me. "Alright, I've admitted I was wrong. I would've said sorry if she hadn't stormed off!"

"Yeah, I know," I sighed. "Look, let's go after her. We need to check if Wakka's okay anyway."

Tidus nodded. "You're right. C'mon, let's go."

* * *

We walked in to see Wakka lying on one of the benches with the rest of the Aurochs standing around him looking like someone had just kicked a puppy. You'd have thought that they'd just lost 10 – 0 or something, not won 3 – 2!

Wakka had just picked up his blitzball and attempted to throw it, but he groaned in pain and flopped back down onto the bench, the ball rolling out of his hand towards the door where we had just come in. Tidus placed his foot on the ball to stop it.

"Miss me?" he grinned, kicking the ball up and catching it before throwing it to Datto.

Yuna and Lulu walked in behind us, catching everyone's attention.

"Lady Yuna!" Datto exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

Yuna's face fell when she saw how worried everyone looked. "All this because of me…" she sighed sadly before bowing deeply. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

By this point Wakka had sat up and turned his head to look at Yuna. "How could you let some Al Bhed kidnap you?" he sighed, shaking his head and practically spitting the words 'Al Bhed'.

Tidus, Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri all glanced over at me. I smiled slightly to show I was okay, but it did hurt a little to know just how much Wakka would hate me if he knew I was Al Bhed.

Tidus frowned at me before looking back up at Wakka. "Hey, let it go, alright?" he said quietly but firmly.

I smiled gratefully at him, and he nodded. Luckily Wakka didn't see.

"Don't go near Al Bhed anymore okay?" he said to Yuna before lying back flat on the bench. "They're trouble."

Yuna giggled lightly, but still kept looking over at me. I smiled at her, properly this time. I'd just have to hope Wakka never found out about me, and if he ever did…well, we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

Yuna walked over to Wakka and crouched down next to him.

"We're going to go get some seats to watch the game," she told him. "Don't you go playing if you're badly hurt, alright?"

Wakka sighed, but Yuna interrupted before he could protest.

"I need you in top shape if you're going to be my guardian, right?" she smiled.

Wakka rolled his eyes, but he grinned at her.

Yuna stood up straight and walked over to me and Tidus.

"You're coming to watch the game, right?" she asked me.

I grinned and nodded. "Of course! We need to watch them kick the Goers' butts!"

Yuna laughed before turning to Tidus. "We'll meet up with you after the game, okay?" she smiled.

Tidus nodded, smiling back. "Next time I see you, we'll be the champs!"

Yuna laughed again and nodded. "Good luck!" she said, before turning to Kimahri. They both nodded and they left.

Tidus turned to me. "Hey, I've got a question. What's Al Bhed for 'good luck'?"

"_Kuut milg_," I told him.

He grinned. "Well, I'd better say that to the Goers. They're gonna need it."

I smirked. "Confident much?"

He shrugged. "Well, when you know you're gonna win, you might as well be!"

I rolled my eyes and grinned. "Good luck. And make sure Wakka doesn't play if he's hurt."

Tidus nodded. "Don't worry, we'll make sure he's alright."

I smiled one last time before turning and running to catch up to Yuna and Kimahri.

I spotted something on the wall as I left. It was an inscription in Spiran. I turned to tell Tidus but he was already talking to Wakka and I didn't want to interrupt. I traced my fingers along the indentations, smiling as I read it.

"My best memories are here," I read aloud quietly. "Wakka, Captain of the Aurochs."

I sighed quietly. This game meant a lot to him. Blitzball had been Wakka's whole life for so long. It just showed how much he cared about Yuna to give it up to be her full-time Guardian.

* * *

As we walked up the stairs into the stadium we could hear Bobba and Jimma getting excited before the match even began.

"This is it folks!" Bobba exclaimed. "In just a few minutes: the championship game!"

As we shuffled through the crowds in single-file to try and find seats, Bobba's voice turned slightly more vindictive.

"But who could've imagined a championship game between _these_ two teams? Our legendary Luca Goers going against the horrendously ill-fated Besaid Aurochs."

We managed to find three empty seats next to the stairs. As we sat down I glared up at the speaker blasting Bobba and Jimma's biased commentary to the masses. Those guys, Bobba especially, were lucky that I didn't know where they were commentating from or else they probably wouldn't still have the ability to speak.

"This looks like history in the making Bobba," Jimma remarked.

Someone walking up the steps caught my eye and drew my gaze down from the speakers. He was dressed very strangely, with a long, thick-looking red coat on even though it was boiling hot, with a blue sash tied round his middle. He had some sort of canister attached to his right hip, and only one of his arms, his right one, was actually going through the sleeve of his coat. His left arm was strapped against his chest. Maybe he'd broken it. His hair was black and cropped short and he wore dark sunglasses.

He turned to look at me for a moment before turning and walking in the opposite direction. I frowned after him but before I could say anything to Yuna the sphere started to fill with water. The game was starting.

Very soon the sphere was full and the Aurochs were swimming in led by Tidus. Wakka wasn't there, and I heard Yuna breathe a sigh of relief that he wouldn't hurt himself any more than he already had. I knew that he'd be watching the game on one of the screens with Lulu, probably yelling instructions at the boys and insults at the Goers even though they couldn't hear him.

They met the Goers in the middle of the sphere. Bickson, who had lead the opposing team out, started to laugh and I was so close to jumping into the arena myself and punching that stupid look off his face. Tidus just stared him down, but I saw him clench his fists.

Bickson swam right up to Tidus and held his hand out to him. Tidus cautiously extended his hand towards him before Bickson lunged at him to hit him. Tidus managed to dodge back out of the way, but the crowd "Ooo"-ed.

"They're already going at it folks!" Bobba said. "The Goers are taunting the Aurochs!"

Both teams glared at each other before turning their backs to each other and swimming off to their starting positions.

The blitzball started out on a small platform directly in the middle of both teams. As a small circle under it glowed white and the ball was propelled upwards, the entire crowd, me and Yuna included, cried, "Blitzoff!"

The game had started.

One of the Goers, Graav, caught the ball first. He swam towards his goal before he was surrounded by Tidus, Datto and Letty. Letty tackled him, but Graav managed to hold onto the ball. Tidus tackled next, but he still wouldn't drop it. Before Datto could try, Graav threw the ball to Bickson. Datto tried to grab it, but it just brushed past his hand, and Bickson caught it. I groaned, as did Yuna. Most of the rest of the stadium cheered. Looked like most of them were still going for the Goers.

Bickson swam towards the goal, being chased by Letty. Before he could get to the goal, Bickson was stopped by Botta who tackled him hard. He, like Graav, didn't drop the ball. He kept swimming forward and shot into the goal. Keepa couldn't catch it and before we knew it the Goers were up 1 – 0. Yuna and I groaned again.

Soon the ball was back in the middle. This time Letty caught it when it shot up. He quickly swam towards the goal but was blocked by Abus and Graav. Before either of them could tackle him he tried to pass to Datto, but Graav caught it. He quickly sped away from Letty towards the other side of the sphere but was blocked by Jassu and Botta. Graav tried to shoot anyway. Both Botta and Jassu tried to catch it, but neither of them managed. Luckily though, Keepa smacked it back into the game and Botta caught it. Yuna and I jumped up out of our seats, cheering.

Graav chased Botta before cornering him with Abus. He threw a pass to Letty but, once again, Graav caught it. I screamed in frustration and flopped back into my seat. I seriously wanted to slap that guy. I thought I saw Kimahri smirk at my reaction but when I turned to see his face was straight like it always was.

Jassu and Botta blocked Graav again, but he kicked the ball towards the goal. Keepa caught it and threw it back in again, where it was caught by Botta. Bickson, Abus and Graav all chased him before blocking his way to the goal. He was way too far away to try and shoot, but Tidus seemed to be in a pretty good position so he threw a pass at him but, surprise surprise, Graav caught it. He quickly threw the ball to Abus who kicked at the goal but Keepa again hit it back in and Jassu caught it before quickly passing it to Tidus, who caught it easily as nobody was blocking him. Abus tackled him but he managed to hold onto the ball and kept swimming towards the goal. Balgerda, one of the two female Goers, also tackled him, as did Graav, but he still didn't drop it. He then passed to Jassu, who missed, and Balgerda caught the ball.

She almost swam the whole way to the goal before being stopped by Jassu. She threw the ball to Abus, who caught it, before quickly being stopped by Tidus and Letty, who both tackled, but he kept hold of the ball. Jassu moved from blocking Balgerda to blocking him. Abus tried to throw to Balgerda but Jassu caught it. He started to swim towards the goal, and Yuna and I started to scream and clap, just as the referee called halftime. We both groaned.

"And it's halftime!" Bobba called.

"The Goers are just playing great Bobba, really great," Jimma gushed.

Halftime wasn't that long, but the boys still headed back to see Wakka. Yuna and I stayed where we were, not wanting to get caught in the crowds heading to the bathroom or to grab something to eat. I could picture Wakka giving the boys a pep-talk, and I smiled.

Before we knew it, the game was due to start again. There was a mad scramble for everyone to get back to their seats before the ball shot up to start the game. Graav caught it (again), but was swiftly blocked by Tidus, Datto and Letty. All three of them tackled him before he continued to swim towards the goal, a little slower than before. The boys' tackles had apparently had an effect on him.

He got to the goal, but Jassu and Botta were waiting for him. Botta tackled, and managed to grab the ball out of Graav's hands. He had only swum a small distance before Graav circled round him and blocked him, eager to get the ball back. Botta threw the ball to Letty, who caught it, but was soon blocked by Doram, the other female Goer. Letty passed the ball to Tidus, and he swam up to the goal. Balgerda stopped him just before he got there. I saw Tidus smirk slightly, and I grinned. I _so _knew what was coming next.

Tidus threw the ball but, instead of it going into the goal, it bounced of Balgerda's face. The crowed groaned, but I started to laugh. Yuna and Kimahri looked at me strangely. I laughed more. They had no idea!

Just like I'd thought, Tidus pushed himself up and started to spin around very fast before whirling upside-down and slamming the ball towards the goal with his foot. Raudy, the Goer's goalkeeper, didn't have a chance. The ball went in and the bell went. 1 – 1.

Yuna and I both jumped up and screamed, jumping about.

"The Jecht Shot! The Jecht Shot!" Yuna squealed.

We weren't the only ones getting excited. The rest of the crowd were screaming for the Aurochs too! Even Bobba and Jimma seemed impressed.

The Aurochs themselves didn't have much time to celebrate though, as the ball was soon back in the middle of the sphere and the game was starting again. Graav caught the ball, but Tidus blocked him. Out of desperation Graav tried to shoot, but he was too far away. Keepa had plenty of time to move into position and hit the ball back into the game where it was caught by Jassu, who then passed to Letty. Letty swam slightly closer to the goal before throwing to Tidus. Balgerda tackled him but he held onto the ball and shot yet again. This time he didn't even have to do the Jecht Shot; he had a clean shot at goal and kicked it in. We were up 1 – 2!

"Goal! Goal! Goooooaaaalll!" Bobba shouted. "Unbelievable! What a miraculous comeback!"

Tidus was milking it now, waving at the cheering crowds, encouraging them to cheer louder and doing backflips. They loved it; they couldn't get enough of this newcomer in the Aurochs. He started to look around until he stopped at us and he grinned and waved. Yuna and I both stood up and waved back like mad.

Suddenly we were both aware of a chant slowly started to grow through the crowd. Yuna and I looked at each other with wide eyes. They were chanting Wakka's name! They were all standing up and cheering! This was crazy!

"Everyone seems to be calling for Wakka folks!" Bobba exclaimed.

All the players were looking about in confusion. The noise must have been muffled in the water, but they could probably still hear that the crowd were cheering for Wakka to come out. I saw Tidus smile slightly before he lay on his back and started swimming backwards towards the exit to the sphere.

"Say…where is that player going?" Bobba asked. "He's leaving the sphere pool! He may be injured."

Yuna looked worried, but I shook my head at her. Tidus was fine, he just had a plan.

* * *

As I suspected a few minutes later Wakka swam out into the sphere pool.

"Ah! It's Wakka!" Bobba announced to the screaming crowd. "He's back on the field and ready to go!"

I smiled. That had been really kind of Tidus to give up his place on the team for Wakka. Yuna must have thought so too as I heard her softly sigh happily, her face spilt into a huge grin.

"The Aurochs seem glad to have him back," Bobba chuckled as the team gathered round him.

Wakka grinned before high-fiving Letty, and they all swam apart to take their starting positions.

Graav started with the ball but was soon blocked by Wakka, Datto and Letty. They all tackled him but he got pass them and swam closer to the goal before being stopped by Jassu and Botta. Graav quickly threw the ball behind him to Abus, who caught it easily. He tried to shoot, but Jassu caught it. Graav and Abus caught up to him before he reached the goal, but he managed to get pass them and throw the ball to Wakka. Wakka sped towards the goal and shot. Once again Raudy couldn't keep it out and he scored. 1 – 3 to the Aurochs with only 20 seconds left of the game!

In a desperate attempt to at least tie the score, Graav caught the ball and made a mad dash for the goal, but Letty and Datto were having none of that, blocking him before he even got half way there. They both tackled him, but he dodged and threw the ball to Abus. He caught it just as the bell went. Game over! We'd won!

The crowd was going nuts, Yuna and I included.

"Unbelievable!" Bobba cried. "The Aurochs win folks! This is one for the record books!"

Wakka was flopped out on his back in shock and relief. I spotted Tidus swimming back into the sphere pool, probably both to celebrate with the Aurochs and to make sure Wakka was alright. Wakka also spotted him and gave him a thumbs-up to show him he was alright.

Just before Tidus reached Wakka, the crowd started screaming again, but not in elation this time, in fear.

Fiends had appeared in the sphere pool and around the stadium.


	22. Chapter 21 - Official

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm really sorry this took so long! I literally have no excuse other than I'm really lazy…Sorry again! This one is a bit longer than usual to make up for it. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review! I'll give you a cookie if you do! ^_^**

**This chapter is dedicated to Batamut.**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 21 - Official**

Lulu had been trying to find us in the crowd ever since Wakka had entered the sphere-pool, and managed to reach us just after the crowd began to panic. As soon as I spotted her snaking her way through the terrified spectators, I took off towards the sphere-pool. If Lulu was helping Yuna and Kimahri fight the fiends in the stands, I was going to go help Tidus and Wakka fight the fiends that had appeared in the water.

As I weaved through the crowd I spotted Luzzu and Gatta waving people out of the stadium. Gatta saw me and frowned. I nodded at the sphere-pool, and he nodded to be, mouthing 'Be careful'. I nodded back and kept going.

There was a rope ladder dangling down the side of the sphere-pool. It led to an opening on the top of the sphere which the players could use to get out in an emergency. Luckily everyone except from Tidus and Wakka had already left the sphere by the time the fiends had appeared, so the ladder was clear. I started to climb it quickly, thankful that I wasn't afraid of heights. Through the glass of the sphere I could see Tidus and Wakka fighting the fiends. They looked like they were beating them down fairly easily but every time they cut one down it seemed like two sprung up out of nowhere. Neither of them saw me.

I stopped for a moment and turned round to see how Yuna and the others were doing, making sure that both my feet and one hand were still firmly planted on the ladder. Yuna, Kimahri and Lulu were fighting a large group of wolf-like fiends. Luzzu, Gatta and a large group of other Crusaders were still making sure everyone was getting out safely. Yuna looked up for a moment and caught my eye. Even though I was more than half way up the ladder by now I could still see that she was worried. I smiled and nodded at her to reassure her I was okay. She nodded back, although she didn't look convinced, before being forced to turn her attention back to the fight before one of the fiends clawed at her face.

I continued to climb the ladder until I reached the opening on the top. It was sealed in which meant I had to pull at a metal handle to open it. It was incredibly stiff, probably because it had never been used before, or at least not in all the years I'd been coming to watch the tournament. The hatch wouldn't budge, so I climbed back down the ladder until my head was only just peaking over before I pulled a grenade out, pulled the tab off with my teeth and threw it, clambering further down the ladder and holding one arm over my head just as the grenade exploded to shield myself from the falling debris from the blast. Once I'd shaken off the fragments of rubble I scrambled back up the ladder and saw that the hatch had blown off, along with a few large chunks of glass around it. I pulled my goggles off over my head before readjusting them over my eyes. My hand knocked the moon lily necklace as I was tightening the goggles. I grasped it for a moment before letting my hands drop back down to my sides. Carefully aiming myself so I wouldn't get caught on the jagged edges of the opening I dove into the water.

I took a few moments to get my bearings before swimming down towards Tidus and Wakka, who had realised I was there when I blew up the escape hatch. Wakka nodded at me as I approached, and Tidus gave me a thumbs-up. I nodded back at both of them before pulling out my blade and coming to a stop beside the boys.

The fiends looked like large green fish, but they had a seaweed-ish look about them too. Luckily they weren't too strong individually, and we could usually kill them in one blow, but there were a lot of them. Their own attacks were also quite weak so none of us took all that much damage.

We were taking these fiends out pretty quickly, and with one last thump from Wakka's blitzball the final one vanished and turned into dozens of little lights. Wakka turned to the two of us and pointed up to the hole I'd made in the top of the sphere. Tidus and I both nodded and we all swam up to the top. Tidus pulled himself out first before helping me out. As Wakka still wasn't fully recovered from the first game we both helped to pull him out of the sphere-pool. He thanked us both before the three of us descended down the ladder in the same order we'd exited the sphere-pool.

As we climbed down the ladder I spotted the man in the red coat who I'd seen earlier. He was standing facing the opposite way from the direction the crowd was running in. Soon I could see why everyone was running; a giant lizard-like fiend was coming round the corner. The man just stood there, unmoving. I could see as we got closer that he had a giant katana in his grip which he held over his right shoulder. As the fiend turned to face him the man took up a battle stance and shrugged his left arm out of his jacket. I raised an eyebrow. So his arm wasn't broken.

I wasn't paying proper attention to climbing down the ladder since I was watching this man, who beat down the fiend in one swing of his katana, and my foot slipped, landing on Tidus' head instead of the next rung.

"Oi!" he called up. "Careful!"

"Sorry!" I replied, still keeping one eye on the man in red. Tidus followed my gaze and his mouth dropped open.

"What the…" he muttered before picking up the pace as he climbed down. Wakka and I also sped up to keep up with him.

We reached the ground and as soon as we did Tidus took off towards the man in red. Wakka saw who he was running at and he gasped before running after him, followed closely by me. The three of us stopped when we reached the man.

"Auron!"

"Sir Auron!"

My eyes widened. _This _was Auron? Okay…I did _not _see that one coming!

Tidus turned to Wakka. "So, you _do _know him?"

Wakka nodded. "Yeah. Best guardian there ever was."

Tidus walked up to Auron, who had his back to us, but before he could say anything a flying fiend appeared on the ledge next to where we were standing. The four of us all turned towards it taking up battle stances.

Even though I'd seen what Auron could do and that he could quite easily take this thing down in one swing, I ran towards the fiend and jumped, slashing at it and causing it to lose a good few feet of altitude. Tidus jumped after I'd landed and slashed at the fiend too. It then attacked us, creating a sonic boom with its huge wings. All four of us winced as the boom hit our eardrums. Wakka then hurled his ball at it before Auron brought his katana down on its head. I swore I heard its skull crack before it screeched in pain and fell from the side of the ledge. I leaned over the ledge to see where it had gone, and the only evidence that it had ever been there was the little lights floating up to the sky.

The four of us ran round the corner without saying a word. As we approached a narrow alley-way two more fiends appeared in front of us. Hearing a loud noise behind us Tidus and I turned around to see another large fiend blocking us in the alley.

"Give me a break!" Tidus cried in frustration.

It took a few minutes to cut through them but we managed. At one point a large wolf-like fiend had pinned Wakka up against the wall of the alley so he couldn't throw his ball. Tidus and Wakka were preoccupied with the other two fiends and couldn't get to him. I yelled at Wakka to watch out before I pulled a grenade out and threw it was the fiend. It wasn't strong enough to kill it, but it did the job of distracting it so it let go of Wakka and focused on me. Between the two of us we managed to destroy it.

We ran out through the alley-way towards another ledge. Tidus and I headed straight for the edge of it to see how the rest of the city was fairing. It wasn't good. Fiends were still running rampant though the streets. From where we were standing we could see Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri still fighting. Yuna had summoned Valefor and was attacking one group while Lulu and Kimahri were working together to fight another group.

Large numbers of crusaders were also fighting, but not as effectively as Yuna and the others. From the corner of my eye I spotted one crusader running towards a doorway and ushering a group of people to move out towards the docks. To my surprise the people who ran out of the doorway were Nimrook and the other Psyches.

I bit my lip. I hadn't even thought about the Psyches since I'd seen them leave the sphere-pool once the Aurochs had beaten them. They looked pretty shaken up but they didn't look hurt. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was glad they were all okay.

Tidus followed my gaze. "Hey, you alright?" he asked when he realised what I was looking at.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

I smiled to reassure him. He started to smile back before his face dropped as he saw something behind me. I turned to see Maester Seymour standing on a balcony across from us. He looked down at us, nodding once, before turning his gaze to the fiends below him. He took a visible deep breath, closed his eyes and performed the prayer. As soon as he did the air around him turned black and a single orange light flew up from the ground Seymour was standing on up to the sky.

The light expanded into something that looked like a portal, and a large metal hook came flying out of it, right past where we were standing, and plunged deep into the ground. It kept going deeper until it caught onto something and started to pull it up out of the ground. Suddenly a horrific cry filled the air which sent a shiver down my spine before a horrifying creature was pulled out of the ground with the hook around its neck.

If I had thought Valefor and Ifrit were scary, then this _thing_ was utterly terrifying. I was scared and I physically stepped back from the balcony we were standing on. I presumed this thing was an Aeon, and I just hoped with all my heart that Yuna never received this summon. It was _huge_. It had no skin covering its face and chest, so all the bones in its skull and ribcage were exposed. It had silver spikes running from the top of the back of its neck round to its forehead. It had two wings which were blue on the outside and red on the inside. These wings were tied down to its body with huge heavy-looking metal chains which were wrapped around its body, causing its two claw-like arms to be crossed over its chest, and its mouth was crammed full of sharp teeth.

I whimpered slightly and Tidus held his arm out in front of me, both of us following the massive Aeon with our eyes before it came to a stop in front of the balcony Seymour was standing on. Dozens of people had stopped trying to escape the area and were now gaping at the Aeon. Wakka and Auron had joined us on the edge of the ledge we were standing on. Tidus still had his arm out in front of me. I hated looking weak, but this Aeon was truly terrifying. I made a mental note to slap myself if I ever said other Aeon was scary.

A bright light formed in the Aeon's eye. Its head jerked backwards and the light flashed once, before a large group of flying fiends screamed in pain and then vanished. My mouth dropped open. It killed them without even touching them?!

It continued to destroy more and more fiends in the same way. The fiends tried to run or fly away but the Aeon shot them all with its eye of light before they could escape. The air was filled with the lights which floated out of the fiends when they were incinerated. Soon all the fiends were gone. The Aeon let out another pained cry before Seymour dismissed it with a small smile on his face.

Tidus finally let the hand he had held out in front of me drop back down to his side. He looked round at me and I looked back up at him. He reached his hand out and squeezed my shoulder and I smiled back weakly. For some reason the fact that Maester Seymour had so much power made me nervous.

Even though he may have been the one who had ultimately saved Luca, I still didn't trust him.

* * *

Wakka had gone off to say goodbye to the Aurochs and then he was going to go tell Yuna that he was ready to be her full-time guardian. Tidus had been glaring at Auron ever since Seymour dismissed his Aeon so I figured he had some questions for him. I went ahead of Wakka to meet up with Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri on ledge overlooking the sea. Yuna looked relieved to see me and she ran up and hugged me.

"You're okay right?" she said worriedly.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She looked around anxiously. "Where're Tidus and Wakka?"

"Wakka was saying goodbye to the boys," I explained. "And Tidus is talking to Auron."

Yuna's head shot up and Lulu and Kimahri whirled around before quickly walking over to me.

"_Sir _Auron?" Lulu clarified.

I shrugged. "Wakka called him that. Tidus just called him Auron. He knew him from Z…from a long time ago."

Yuna knew I was going to say Zanarkand, and her eyes widened. Before she could say anything though Wakka walked up.

"How did it go?" I asked.

Wakka shrugged. "As well as it could have gone. The boys seemed pretty cut up." He shook his head and smirked. "Ah, they'll get over it soon enough. They'll be fine."

Wakka turned to Yuna and nodded. Yuna looked uncertain.

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

"Never liked long goodbyes anyway," Wakka smiled slightly. "Sorry for makin' you wait Yuna. I had some promises to keep, ya? From now on I'm your full-time guardian."

Yuna smiled back. "Then welcome back _Sir _Wakka." She bowed. "Good to have you with us."

Wakka shook his head slightly. "Hey…it's good to _be _back, ya?"

Yuna smiled again and nodded. Wakka clapped her on the shoulder before walking over to Lulu.

"So, any news on what happened?" he asked.

Lulu shook her head and shrugged. "Not really. We don't know where the fiends came from. Maester Micah is safe and sound thanks to Maester Seymour. That's about it."

I bit my tongue to stop myself from snorting at the mention of Seymour.

Yuna sighed wistfully. "Maester Seymour's Aeon…it was _so _powerful…"

"And so freaking creepy…" I muttered under my breath. Yuna looked over at me.

"Huh?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm gonna go find Tidus and Auron…uh, I mean _Sir _Auron," I corrected myself catching the look that Lulu sent my way.

Yuna nodded. "Okay. We'll wait here for you."

I nodded back and smiled before turning and running off towards the docks.

* * *

"Hey you! Don't just stand there! All of this is your fault! Getting swallowed by Sin, ending up here in Spira, not being able to go back to Zanarkand, everything! Everything!"

I grimaced. I was hiding behind some crates on one of the docks. I'd heard yelling and came over to see what was going on. Sure enough it was Tidus screaming at Auron. I wanted to run over but I wasn't sure what I could really do to help. So instead I was hiding like a coward and an idiot. Nice one Suki.

Tidus sounded like he was starting to crack. I peeked round from the crates and saw that he had grabbed hold of Auron's coat, his hands shaking slightly.

"I'm telling you, it's all your fault." He sounded choked up like he was about to cry.

Suddenly the sound of deep laughter filled the air. Auron was in hysterics! All of a sudden I wasn't sure I liked him very much. He had no right to laugh at Tidus! For the most part he still had no clue what was going on. He just wanted to go back home! So far Blitzball and Auron were the only two things Spira had in common with his Zanarkand. Auron was probably the only person who could clue Tidus in, and he was laughing at him!

Auron's laughter subsided and there was silence for a few moments before he spoke.

"Your friend can come out now."

I froze. _Sheb_… This probably wasn't going to go well.

Suddenly Tidus was next to me. He sighed.

"How much did you hear?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I only just got here. I heard you going off at him and him laughing. That's all."

He nodded slowly. "You'd better come out," he said eventually. "He knows you're here now anyway."

I nodded back, now slightly nervous. Yeah, I'd fought alongside Auron one time, but I was wary of getting on his bad side. I'd seen how good he was with his katana.

Auron looked at me over his huge grey collar and black sunglasses without any emotion on his face. Tidus picked the conversation up where it had left off.

"Who are you anyway?" he asked, sounding slightly calmer than he had before. "You knew my old man, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Auron answered.

"And you knew Yuna's father?" I interjected, frowning.

"That's correct," he replied, not sounding annoyed that I had interrupted.

"Hey man, there's no way," Tidus grunted. "That's just impossible."

"Nothing impossible about it," Auron answered without missing a beat. "Jecht, Braska and I – together we defeated Sin ten years ago. Then I went to Zanarkand where I watched over you" – he nodded at Tidus - "so that one day I could bring you to Spira."

Tidus looked angry. "Why did it have to be me?" he asked before turning away.

"Jecht asked me to."

Tidus didn't turn around for a few moments. When he did I couldn't read his face.

"Is he alive?" he asked, his face deadpan.

"It depends on what you mean by alive," Auron replied after a moment. "He is…no longer human. But then…I felt something of Jecht there in that shell, couldn't you?"

Tidus frowned, clearly confused, as did I. What did he mean by that?

He soon answered out silent question. "You must have felt him when you came in contact with Sin."

I gasped, my hand flying up to cover my gaping mouth. Tidus stepped back slightly, shaking his head.

"It can't be…" he murmured.

Auron looked down for a moment, and for the first time I thought I saw a flash of emotion in his eyes – pity. It was quickly extinguished before he looked back up.

"It is. Sin is Jecht," he stated.

Tidus started to shake.

"No! That's ridiculous…no way! I don't believe you!" he yelled, before turning away and walking further down the dock.

I ran after him. When I caught up I rested my hand on his shoulder in sympathy. He turned towards me and I saw his eyes were filled with tears. I knew that he'd hated his father, but I couldn't imagine how he must have felt knowing his father was responsible for all the suffering in Spira. I wasn't even sure how that was possible…Sin had been around for much longer than ten years, which was when Jecht had first come to Spira. How could he possibly be Sin?

I heard slow footsteps behind us and we both turned round, Tidus quickly running his arm across his face to wipe away the tears.

"But it _is _the truth," Auron said, not unkindly though. "You'll see for yourself."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Come with me."

Tidus smirked slightly. "And if I say no?"

I thought I heard Auron chuckle. "Every story must have an ending."

"I don't care about your stories!" Tidus exploded before walking further up the dock. This time I didn't follow him.

"I see," Auron smirked. "Sorry you feel that way."

When he saw Tidus wasn't turning around he sighed quietly. "Fine, come or don't come. It's your decision." He turned as if he was walking away.

Tidus screamed in frustration before turning back around and walking up to Auron, pushing past me like I wasn't there.

"What am I supposed to say?" he shouted. "You tell me it's my decision but I don't have a choice, do I? You're the only one who can tell me what's going on anyway! I have to go with you! I have to!"

He paced around, his frustration evident on his face.

Auron sighed quietly again. "Irritating, I know." He turned his head round to look at Tidus who now had his back to us. "Are you afraid?"

Tidus didn't move except to clench his fists. Auron turned right around and walked up to him. I stayed back.

"It's alright," Auron said quietly. Tidus turned his head round to glance at him before quickly looking away again.

After a few moments of silence, during which Auron had turned around so he was now looking away from Tidus again, Tidus asked the question I knew he had wanted someone to answer since he'd first came to Spira.

"Will I ever go home? Back to Zanarkand?" he asked quietly, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"That's up to Jecht," Auron answered honestly.

He walked away slightly before turning back to Tidus who was still facing the opposite direction.

"I'm going to offer my services to Yuna," he told him. Tidus turned back around at Yuna's name.

"Come," Auron said, sounding more like an offer than a command, before walking away again. This time he didn't look back.

As Auron left the dockside, Tidus turned to look at me for the first time since he'd found out his father was Sin. He didn't say a word, but he didn't have to. I could see everything in his eyes. He was worried, confused, scared, upset and angry all at once. I did all I really thought I could do and put my arm around his shoulder, giving him a rather awkward one-armed hug. He smiled slightly, but I could see he was still torn up.

"Come on," I said quietly. "Let's go find Yuna and the others."

He nodded slowly before we started walking together back to where I'd left the rest of our group.

* * *

We had spotted Yuna, Lulu, Wakka and Kimahri but they hadn't seen us yet. Yuna, Lulu and Wakka were talking. Kimahri was standing a little further away with his arm folded across his chest in his usual stance. He was the first to see us. He grunted and when Yuna looked up he nodded over to us. Yuna gasped when she saw us before walking quickly over to us, Wakka and Lulu close behind her. All three of them bowed to Auron when the three of us came to a halt.

"Yuna."

"Sir." Yuna bowed again.

"I wish to become your guardian. Do you accept?"

I raised an eyebrow. He wasn't beating about the bush.

Yuna's eyes widened as did Lulu's and Wakka's.

"You're serious?" Wakka blubbered.

"You refuse?" Auron asked, still only looking at Yuna.

Yuna quickly shook her head. "No, no. We accept, right everyone?"

"O…of course!" Wakka recovered. "No problem at all!" I smirked at how obviously star-struck he was, even though he had fought along-side him not half an hour ago.

"But…why?" Lulu asked, confused.

"I promised Braska," Auron told them.

"You promised…my father?" Yuna murmured before smiling. "Thank you Sir Auron. You're welcome to join us."

Auron leaned back and grabbed Tidus, who had been milling about behind him kicking the ground and avoiding eye contact with the others. He pushed him in front of himself.

"And he comes to," he announced.

Tidus glared at him slightly before turning back to the others.

"Um…hi guys…howdy," he said awkwardly before bowing slightly, knowing that this was kind of an official thing.

"This one I promised Jecht," Auron explained, seeing the frown on Lulu's face.

Yuna gasped slightly. "Is Sir Jecht alive?"

Auron shrugged. "Can't say. Haven't seen him in ten years."

Tidus and I shared a look and nodded slightly. We both understood. Yuna's job as a summoner was to defeat Sin. If she knew Sin was Jecht, chances are she wouldn't be able to do it.

Yuna looked down, her face falling. "I…see…" she murmured sadly.

"You'll meet eventually," Auron said truthfully.

I glanced up at him and saw another flash of emotion – guilt.

Yuna nodded, her smiled back on her face. "Yes. I'm looking forward to it."

I grimaced, as did Tidus.

Auron nodded once at her before walking up to Lulu, already identifying her as the kind of unofficial leader of our group. "What's our itinerary? Where're we headed?"

As Auron and Lulu were discussing our plans for the rest of the pilgrimage Yuna walked over to me and Tidus. I decided to bite the bullet.

"Yuna? I know I'm just a kid to you, but I can't go back home now after all this. I need to see this through to the end now."

Yuna frowned, as did Tidus, but neither of them said anything, sensing that I wasn't finished.

I took a deep breath. "I want to come with you on the rest of your pilgrimage. I want to be a guardian too."

Yuna bit her lip. "Suki, it'll be dangerous. You're only 13. You've been a great help up to now, but I really think you should try and find the Psyches before they leave and go back home with them."

I shook my head. "Yuna, I'm not going anywhere. I need to do this. And I can't do this properly unless I'm an official guardian."

Tidus put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. I looked up at him and he nodded encouragingly.

"Yuna, you've trusted me enough to become your guardian, and you've known me for less than a week," he said. "You've known Suki your whole life. She might only be 13, but she's a great fighter, and she can take care of herself. Plus, there's no way I can let her go back by herself."

He smiled at me again. "I promised to myself that the next time she saw Brother I'd be there too so he would know I wasn't all that bad."

Yuna laughed, as did I. Yuna thought for a few moments before nodding.

"Okay then. Suki, you're in," she smiled.

I grinned back and threw my arms around her in a huge hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

She laughed again as I let go of her. Tidus was laughing too as I turned to him.

"Thank you too," I smiled.

He grinned back. "No problem. Happy to help."

Yuna's face suddenly changed, like she'd just remembered something.

"Come with me!" she said to Tidus before grabbing his hand and pulling him over to the railings at the edge of the ledge. She put two fingers into her mouth and whistled loudly. I smiled after them and walked over to Wakka and the others who were now standing at the bottom of the stairs. Looks like she could do it now.

Wakka turned away from Lulu and Auron for a moment to smile at me. "So, you officially in now, ya?" he asked.

I smiled back and nodded. "Looks like it!"

He gave me a thumbs-up before turning back to the conversation about our plans.

I walked over to stand next to Kimahri.

"Sakura now Yuna's guardian." Kimahri said as a statement rather than a question, still staring straight ahead at Tidus and Yuna.

I nodded. "Yep. Looks like you're stuck with me for a little while longer."

I thought I heard him smirk. "Sakura should be careful," he warned me. "This journey may be dangerous."

I smiled slightly. "I can take care of myself," I assured him.

"Kimahri doesn't doubt that," he said.

I smiled properly. "Thanks…I think."

He smirked again and walked away over to Lulu and Wakka who were now talking together. Auron was walking towards me. For some reason I gulped. He stood next to me for a few moments in silence, both of us watching Yuna and Tidus, who were both smiling.

"You seem like you care about him," I said, eventually breaking the silence.

He shrugged. "Not so much," he said. "But I made a promise to Jecht."

I nodded, not believing him when he said he didn't care about him, but not wanting to argue with him.

"And what about you?" he asked quietly. "You obviously care about Yuna if someone as young as you wants to be her guardian."

I nodded again. "I do care about her. And after everything I've seen here and in Kilika, I can't let Sin get away with it. Even if Sin _is _Tidus' father."

He nodded once, no emotion showing on his face. "What about your fellow Al Bhed?" he asked. "How would they feel about you traveling with a summoner?"

I froze for a moment, but quickly shook it off. I shouldn't have been surprised that he'd realised I was Al Bhed. He seemed like a pretty observant guy.

In answer to his question I shrugged. "Some of them probably won't like it," I admitted. "But I don't care. This is what I want to do. It's my choice and nobody else's."

Before Auron could respond we suddenly heard the strangest sound I'd ever heard coming from Tidus. He was laughing, but it was really _really_ fake. Yuna seemed to find this hilarious and bust into real laughter herself. Seeing that he was amusing her he did it again.

By this point Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Auron and myself were all staring at them for being complete weirdoes. Yuna noticed this and said something quietly to Tidus, but whatever it was he ignored her and 'laughed' again. Yuna stood beside him and took a deep breath. He looked over at her and nodded, and they both 'laughed' simultaneously before bursting into peals of real laughter. I looked over at Wakka and he shrugged. He had no clue what they were doing either.

Once the laughing had subsided I strained my ears to listen in on the tail-end of their conversation.

Yuna was speaking more seriously now. "I want my journey to be full of laughter," she said, not looking directly at Tidus.

Tidus smiled at her and nodded, following her gaze over the sea that they were both looking at. "Okay," he agreed.

"If we should get separated, just whistle," she said, repeating what Tidus had said earlier. "I'll come running."

She looked up at Tidus at the same time he looked down at her. "I promise," she smiled.

Tidus smiled back and nodded again. "Well, let's go."

They both turned to walk over to us. That was when Tidus first noticed all of us staring at them.

"What're you looking at?" he asked.

"We were just worried you guys mighta gone crazy," Wakka answered, relaying what we had all been thinking.

"Sorry," Yuna apologised, but still kept smiling.

Yuna continued to talk but I didn't hear what she said because I spotted something, or rather some_one_ coming along the same route that myself, Auron and Tidus had been walking along not too long ago. It was Nimrook.

Tidus followed my gaze as Yuna and the others started to walk up the stairs in front of us. He turned back to me and nodded.

"Go," he said. "I'll cover for you."

I smiled gratefully before running over to Nimrook.

"_Suki!"_ he cried happily. _"I was so worried about you!"_

"_No need,"_ I smiled, any anger at what he'd done to Yuna forgotten. I was just glad I got to see him again before I left.

He looked past me at the others who were now half-way up the long flight of stairs. _"So…you're going with them?"_

I nodded. _"I'm a guardian now."_

To my surprise he didn't seem angry. He just nodded.

"_You'd better be careful, you hear?" _he warned me. _"If you get hurt then Brother and Rikku are going to kill me."_

I smiled and nodded. _"Don't worry, I'll be fine."_

He nodded and before pulling me into a crushing hug. _"Goodbye, little sister,"_ he murmured into my ear.

I hugged him back. _"Goodbye, big brother."_

We pulled apart and I smiled one last time before turning away and following the others up the stairs. When I turned back Nimrook had already gone.


	23. Chapter 22 - Meetings on the Highroad

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, I know this took forever to get up. No, I have no excuse other than laziness. Please don't eat me! I'm on study leave for exams at the moment which either means I will be able to get these up quicker over the next month seeing as I won't be at school, or it could mean that these will be even more delayed than usually because I'll be studying… Either way I will try very hard to get at least one more chapter up while I'm still on study leave after this one. Hopefully more than one, but definitely one at least.**

**This chapter is pretty much just filler, but I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review – it really does help to motivate me to get these up ASAP!**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 22 – Meetings on the Highroad**

I ran up the steps to meet Tidus and the others at the start of the Mi'ihen Highroad, breathing heavily when I reached the top. Those things were hard to sprint up! Wakka rubbed my back sympathetically as I bent over, my hands on my knees, gulping in air. Tidus chuckled.

"Puffed out Suki?" he teased.

I raised my head just enough to glare at him before standing up straight and stretching.

There was a large group of people surrounding Lulu, Kimahri, Auron and Yuna, with gifts of thanks and words of good luck for the summoner and her guardians. Once they'd all left Yuna smiled round at us all. "So, everybody ready to go?"

Everyone nodded, and I pointed down the road.

"To Djose!" I announced before setting off in an over-dramatic march down the dirt path.

I heard a sigh behind me – probably Lulu - before Tidus, Yuna and Wakka all laughed and started to march after me. I didn't turn round for fear of seeing Lulu and Auron's disapproving looks.

After we'd stopped marching like idiots and were back to walking at the same pace as Lulu, Auron and Kimahri, Tidus shuffled over to walk next to me.

"Did you get to talk to him?" he asked me, his usually cheery face looking genuinely concerned.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I did. I told him I was a guardian now, and he seemed alright with it."

I chuckled under my breath. "He said I'd better look after myself or else Rikku and Brother would kill him. Which they probably would, since he would have been the last one to see me."

Tidus grinned. "Aren't they going to kill him anyway for not convincing you to go back with him?"

I laughed. "Probably," I smiled. "But they know it won't have been entirely his fault. I'm stubborn and they know it."

Tidus nodded. "Don't have to tell me twice!"

I slapped the back of his head and we both laughed.

* * *

We hadn't been walking along the road for long when we came across a huge statue of a man standing above a hideous blue and red fiend with his spear stabbed into the back of its neck. He was tan, with long black hair and large muscles. He wore pale yellow armour over his chest and thighs, with blue pants on underneath and large heavy yellow boots on his feet. There was something which looked like a wooden shield attached to his left arm, the hand on his opposite arm holding onto the spear which was embedded in the fiend. There was a small, old man with a long grey beard standing beside the statue, gazing up at it.

"Lord Mi'ihen," I mused as we walked past it.

Tidus frowned. "Who?"

I nodded at the statue. "The big guy with the spear. He founded the Crusaders 800 years ago."

"The Maesters at the time thought he might have been planning a rebellion," Lulu added, having overheard our conversation. "Lord Mi'ihen walked along this road to face their charges and deny them. He won their trust, and the Crusaders became an arm of the Yevon clergy."

"That's when they got given the name 'Crusaders'," I concluded. "They've kept it ever since."

Tidus nodded, taking this all in. "So, that's why this place is called the Mi'ihen Highroad?"

I nodded back. "Yep. Named after him." I nodded at the statue again.

The old man was standing at the statue noticed me looking round at it and smiled kindly. I smiled back, bowing my head respectfully (Al Bhed are very big on respecting your elders) before I turned back around and jogged to catch up with the others.

Just before I reached them, an armoured fiend jumped out in front of them. Tidus and Auron quickly got their swords out and Wakka pulled out his blitzball. Tidus let out a chuckle at the fiend.

"Ha! That one looks slow!" he said, getting ahead of himself.

"It's also tough," Auron informed him. "Let me handle this."

"No way! I can take it!" Tidus insisted.

I rolled my eyes as Tidus leap forward. His sword practically bounced off of the fiend's armour.

"What the?!" he cried.

"Auron told you so!" I called out, my sword stabbed into the ground as I rested my arms on top of it, standing next to Yuna and Lulu both of whom also had small grins on their faces.

He turned round to glare at me as Auron chuckled, before he destroyed the fiend with one swift blow from his katana.

"Told ya!" Wakka joined me in cat-calling Tidus. "Sir Auron's the best!"

"I could've done that…" Tidus muttered as Wakka and I laughed.

* * *

About twenty minutes and a few fights later we were walking past some old ruins. The same old man who had been standing next to the statue of Lord Mi'ihen was there. He turned around when he heard me, Tidus and Yuna approaching to get a closer look at the ruins.

"Do you know what these ruins are from?" he asked us.

"Some old city?" Tidus guessed.

The man nodded. "Correct. A city most ancient. A terrible testament to Sin's power."

He turned away from us to look back up at the ruins, which consisted most of what looked like the top of a large tower with a bell-shaped roof.

"I tremble every time I see them," the man admitted. "Compared to Sin, humans are mere mud puppies."

"But," Yuna started, "I believe humans are the only ones capable of defeating Sin."

The old man smiled. "A good reply. I am relieved to hear you say that, my Lady summoner."

He shook his head suddenly. "Where are my manners? I am Maechen, a scholar." He bowed. "At your service, my Lady."

Yuna bowed back. "I am Yuna, from the temple of Bevelle. These are two of my guardians, Tidus and Sakura."

We also bowed, and he smiled and nodded to us.

"May I ask, sir, what are you doing here on the Highroad?" I asked.

"I am on a journey, studying the history of our world, Spira," he explained, "seeking its stories and secrets. My travels have taken me to many places and I am troubled by what I have seen."

His face fell. "Fragile smiles on people's faces, crumbling at the mere mention of Sin!"

He looked back up at Yuna. "They are counting on you, my Lady. Give them a reason to rejoice once more."

"I will," Yuna promised.

Maechen smiled and bowed again. "Thank you, my Lady."

As he straightened back up he looked over our shoulders. "It seems like your other guardians are waiting for you."

We all turned our heads to see Lulu and the others watching us, clearly waiting for us so we could continue walking. Tidus and Yuna bid their farewells to Maechen and walked quickly towards the others. I however lingered back. Maechen noticed.

"Do you have a question, young one?" he asked, smiling kindly.

I nodded, feeling nervous and kind of stupid. "It was just something you said…" I started. "You said you were studying the history of Spira."

He nodded. "That is correct. Is there something you wanted to know about our world's past?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not that. It was the way you called Spira 'our world'. To me – and I could be completely wrong here – but to me that makes it sound like there are other worlds…"

I looked up, expecting to see Maechen looking at me strangely. Instead, his eyes were shining slightly, a small smile on his face. He didn't say anything though.

I frowned slightly. "Or did you just mean you were studying Spira and not studying the Farplane or something like that?"

Maechen shook his head slightly. "No, that is not what I meant."

He stepped slightly closer to me as if he didn't want anyone else to hear.

"I'm impressed that you caught on to what I said. There are indeed other worlds out there. Unfortunately, I am yet to discover a way to travel between them."

My eyes widened at his words. There were other worlds? I thought my imagination was just running away with me!

I glanced over at Tidus, thinking about how it had been Sin that brought him here. I knew I couldn't tell anyone about that, but if Sin was the only way to travel between worlds then that ruled it out completely.

I wasn't sure why my ears had pricked up when he'd called Spira "our world". Maybe it was because, having been sheltered as a child, only being allowed to leave Home to go on the ship or to go to Luca with Brother and Rikku, I just wanted to see as many places as possible while I still had this freedom. Maybe it was because since Tidus had come here I had discovered that the Spira that I knew might not be the only world out there. Whatever it was, I just wanted to know more.

Maechen looked thoughtful. "Maybe you shall be the one to discover how to travel to these other worlds, hmm?"

I smiled slightly. "Maybe one day," I shrugged, not at all confident that I could do something like that.

I bowed politely. "I'm sorry sir, but I have to go. But I was really nice to meet you."

He bowed back. "And the same to you Sakura. I am sure this won't be the final time we meet."

I smiled. "I sure hope it's not."

We both smiled before I turned and ran to catch up to the others who were already caught up in a fight with another fiend. I pulled my sword out and slashed down on a fireball fiend which was about to attack Tidus from behind.

"Took you long enough!" he shouted when he saw me. "What happened back there?"

"Nothing, doesn't matter," I replied. "Let's just focus on taking these things down!"

* * *

Tidus had asked me a few times what Maechen and I had been talking about, but I hadn't told him and I wasn't planning on it. I didn't really want to talk to anyone about it, not even Rikku if she had been there. Maybe I was just being silly, but in my head if I told anyone then I would never get to go to other worlds. Like I would jinx it or something.

We were all walking along the road once more when Tidus stopped short, staring straight ahead. I followed his gaze and saw a cloud of dust in the distance. I stopped too. Was it fiends?

I relaxed as I saw the heads of three large yellow birds popping out of the top of the dust cloud. Another thing about the Al Bhed? We've got awesome eyesight.

"Panic over!" I called to the others. "It's the Chocobo Knights!"

Yuna, Wakka and Lulu breathed a sigh of relief. Tidus frowned.

"Chocobo Knights?" he asked.

"Remember those giant yellow birds that powered the boat we were on when we were going to Kilika?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Well, the Chocobo Knights ride them. They usually patrol around looking for any trouble makers, but if they need to then they'll fight fiends too," I explained.

There were three chocobos running towards us, each with a rider on its back. Each of the birds had silver armour covering its breast, forehead and beak, more so that people knew that they belong to the Chocobo Knights than for protection.

The woman riding the chocobo that was out in front had red hair down to her shoulders and her armour was purple, with a yellow and white body-warmer on underneath. The other girl had short black hair and orange and black armour, and looked younger than the first woman. The boy on the third chocobo seemed quite nervous, and looked even younger than either of the woman. He had short dark hair with silver and black armour. He looked like he found it easier to manoeuvre his chocobo than either of the other two.

The lady with the red hair brought her chocobo to a stop in front of our group, the other two stopping slightly behind her.

"Lady Summoner I presume?" she asked, looking at Yuna.

Yuna nodded and introduced herself.

"I am Lucil," she told us, giving us a one-armed salute. "Captain of the Djose Chocobo Knights."

The other girl also saluted us. "And I'm Elma. We've been charged to guard the Highroad."

"There have been reports of a large fiend appearing in this area with a taste for chocobos," Lucil informed us. "Do take care, Summoner Yuna, if you are to rent any chocobos."

Yuna smiled and bowed to them. "Thank you. We will be careful."

Lucil smiled back and nodded. "Good. We should get back to our rounds. Farewell."

Elma also smiled. "Our prayers are with you," she said.

I realised that the boy hadn't said anything. He was looking down at his chocobo, but when he glanced up I caught his eye and smiled. He looked startled before he smiled back before turning his chocobo and following Lucil and Elma down the road.

"A large fiend…" Tidus mused, before nodding to himself and looking round at the rest of us. "Let's go get it!"

"Why?" Auron asked.

Tidus sighed quietly before glancing at Auron. "It's the right thing to do."

"'It's the right thing to do…'" Auron repeated before chuckling.

"What'd I say now?" Tidus grumbled.

"Jecht said that a lot too," Auron explained. I swear I saw a smile cracking on his face. "And every time he said it, it meant trouble for Braska and me."

He chuckled again, and despite the fact that Tidus was frowning at him, I smiled. It looked like Tidus might be more like his father than he realised.

* * *

Not long after the Chocobo Knights had left us someone standing at the side of the road caught Yuna's eye. I followed her gaze to see an older woman in a green robe watching us. She smiled when Yuna caught her eye.

"Ah…A summoner party," she murmured.

"You too are a summoner?" Yuna asked.

She nodded. "My name is Belgemine. You are?"

"My name is Yuna," she bowed.

Belgemine smiled. "Ah, the High Summoner's daughter. I've heard much of you. But you are still fresh on the road, are you not?"

Yuna looked down. "Yes…I am."

Belgemine smiled again. "I might have a few things to teach you."

Yuna looked back up, looking hopeful.

"Let us see which are stronger," Belgemine offered. "My Aeons or yours. A one-on-one match. Not to the death of course. What do you say?"

Yuna looked round at Lulu and Auron, both of whom nodded. Yuna turned back to Belgemine and also nodded.

"I'll do my best," she smiled.

Belgemine smiled back. "Good. Shall we?"

* * *

A few minutes later I was sitting next to Tidus and Wakka on a large rock not far away from where Yuna and Belgemine were now standing facing each other. Lulu, Auron and Kimahri were standing next to us, watching as both summoners prepared to call their Aeons.

Belgemine went first, summoning Ifrit. I breathed a small sigh of relief that she didn't summon the same Aeon that Maester Seymour had back in Luca.

"Show me how strong a link you have formed with your Aeons," she said to Yuna, who smiled and nodded.

Yuna then summoned Valefor, and I whooped and cheered, as did Tidus and Wakka. Yuna turned to flash us a grin before she ordered Valefor to use her sonic wings against Ifrit. She did this twice, but Ifrit didn't seem to be too damaged by it. Ifrit then lunged at Valefor, but she dodged out of the way. She started to look angry. Yuna smirked slightly before murmuring something to Valefor, who screeched and flew up high. She seemed to take a deep breath before emitting a powerful energy ray from her mouth. It hit Ifrit directly in his chest and he flew backwards. He tried to get up again but fell to the floor with loud thump. Belgemine crouched down next to him, concerned, before looking back up at Yuna.

"Stop," she said. "That is enough."

Tidus and I clapped and cheered again. That had been easy! Yuna smiled scratched Valefor's head while she crooned happily.

* * *

A few minutes later Belgemine had dismissed Ifrit and was once again talking to Yuna. Valefor hadn't been dismissed yet and, although everyone else seemed to be a bit wary of her, and she of them, she seemed to quite like standing next to me while I scratched her head like Yuna had been doing.

"Not bad for one so young," Belgemine was saying to Yuna. "I underestimated you."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small ring. It had a gold band and a small white stone.

"Is that an Echo Ring?" Yuna asked, her eyes widening.

Belgemine smiled and nodded. "Take it. You've earned it."

Yuna must have said 'Thank you' at least half a dozen times as she took the ring from Belgemine. I turned to Lulu who was the closest to me.

"What the deal with that ring?" I asked.

"Some pieces of jewellery have special powers," she explained. "Do you remember that mute ball attack that you told us the machina on the Al Bhed ship in Luca could use?"

I nodded. "Yeah. If it had hit you it would have meant that you wouldn't have been able to speak for a while so you couldn't have cast any spells."

Lulu nodded. "Well, Yuna can also cast magic. That ring means that attacks like that mute ball won't have any effect on her."

I whistled quietly in awe. "That is pretty awesome…" I mused, before turning back to Lulu. "Hang on, if it stops mute attacks from working then shouldn't you wear it? Your magic's more powerful that Yuna's after all."

Lulu shook her head. "Rings only work for summoners."

"Oh. Well, there goes that plan," I sighed. Lulu chuckled.

I turned my attention back to Belgemine and Yuna.

"You show promise," Belgemine was saying. "With more training, you could defeat Sin."

"Thank you," Yuna smiled. "But, I think you might defeat Sin before I am able to."

I thought I saw Belgemine's smile falter slightly. "I…cannot," she sighed.

Yuna frowned, and Belgemine smiled sadly.

"Or should I say…I was not able to."

Yuna's eyes widened, as did mine.

"You mean…" Yuna gasped.

Before anyone else could say anything, Belgemine turned to leave. "Farewell Yuna. We'll meet again."

Yuna turned to look at Lulu and me. I was still scratching Valefor's head, but I wasn't paying attention to her anymore.

Belgemine wasn't a normal human anymore. She was an unsent. Nobody had ever performed the sending for her.

She was dead.


	24. Chapter 23 - The Sunset

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I made a real effort to get this up as quick as I could! Sorry that the last chapter was just filler; my excuse is that Belgemine, the Chocobo Knights and Maechen all come up later on in the story so I had to get them in somewhere. This chapter starts off as a tiny bit of more filler but there is more storyline later on, so please bear with! I hope you enjoy this chapter; please review!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Shaggy Donahugh, hetekos and mikedc39.**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 23 – The Sunset**

Lulu, Wakka, Auron and Kimahri had walked ahead of us. Yuna and I were still looking a little pale after Yuna's conversation with Belgemine. Tidus was walking beside us and frowning at us, not really sure why we looked like we had seen a ghost. Little did he know that we basically _had_ seen a ghost.

We heard a gasp from behind us and turned to see a little girl staring up at Yuna with big brown eyes. Her brown hair was pleated in two braids down her back. She was wearing a brown and pale green cardigan with a dress under it which had a brown and pale red skirt. She had little brown ankle boots on. All in all, she was completely adorable.

There was a woman standing behind her, presumably her mother. She turned round when she heard the girl gasp and her eyes widened.

"My lady summoner!" she exclaimed.

You could tell she was related to the little girl somehow – she had the same brown hair and brown eyes, and the same tanned skin. The woman was wearing a brown shirt with a red neckline, and a long green skirt with blue sandals.

The girl ran up to Yuna, her eye still wide. "You're a summoner?!" she said, her mouth dropping open slightly.

Yuna smiled and nodded. "Yes. My name is Yuna," she introduced herself.

"I'm Calli!" the little girl grinned up at her.

Yuna smiled even more, crouching down so she was the same height as her. "Nice to meet you Calli."

Calli bit her lip, looking like she wanted to ask something. Yuna saw her expression and nodded encouragingly.

"Lady Yuna…" Calli began hesitantly, "are you going to bring us the Calm?"

Yuna nodded again, still smiling. "Yes! Very soon," she promised.

Calli's smile came back and she cheered before starting to run around us and her mother. Everyone grinned at her happiness; even Auron nearly cracked a smile!

Calli's mother spoke up. "We are looking forward to another Calm, my lady summoner."

Yuna nodded. "I'll do my best," she promised again.

Calli's mother turned to look at the rest of us, a small smile on her face. "And good luck to your guardians as well," she said, giving us a small nod.

We all smiled and nodded back in thanks.

She then looked back to Calli. "Come on Calli, we'd better get going if we're to get back to the inn before nightfall."

Calli stopped running around and nodded. "Okay mom!" she smiled before walking up to her mother and taking hold of her hand.

They said their goodbyes to us before heading off down the road. Yuna, Tidus, Wakka and I waved after them before Tidus turned back to the group.

"What's the Calm?" he asked.

"The Calm is a time of peace," Lulu answered. I noticed that Lulu had basically become the fountain of knowledge on Spira that Tidus pretty much constantly had to turn to. Lulu didn't seem to mind though – or at least she didn't seem to get angry at him for not knowing anything.

"It comes after a summoner defeats Sin," she continued, "and lasts until Sin reappears."

Tidus frowned, as if he was trying to figure something out. "Uh…huh?"

"Sin dies and is reborn," Yuna explained.

Tidus nodded. "I get it! I thought it was weird. Yuna's dad defeated Sin ten years ago, right? But Sin's still here. Didn't make much sense till now."

I mentally slapped myself. Of course Tidus wouldn't know that Sin couldn't be beaten forever. I hadn't even wondered why he hadn't asked about that.

He frowned again. "Wait…if Sin just comes back…"

"Don't say it isn't worth it."

Everyone turned to look at Yuna with surprised looks on their faces. Yuna had never spoken so sharply before, especially not to Tidus. She seemed to realise what she had said and turned her head away from our gazes.

"I'm sorry…" she murmured before starting to walk in the same direction as Calli and her mother had. Auron and Kimahri both began walking after her without hesitation, Lulu following just after. Wakka, who had seemed pretty shaken at Yuna tone, gave himself a shake and went after them. Tidus just stood there, looking shocked.

"What…what did I say?" he stammered, looking round at me since I was the only person left standing there apart from him.

I was watching Yuna and the others walk away from us.

"You said it wasn't worth it," I sighed.

He shook his head. "I didn't say anything!"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, you _nearly _said it wasn't worth it."

Tidus was still grumbling under her breath, so I turned to face him, my arms folded across my chest.

"Look, even for a little while, people can sleep in their beds without being afraid. That kind of time is worth _anything._"

I turned my head back to watch the others walking further away from us.

"So don't say it isn't worth it," I repeated before walking off towards the others.

A few moments later I heard Tidus jog to catch up with me. Neither of us spoke though. It wasn't that either of us was angry with the other. It was just that we didn't have anything to say.

* * *

We'd caught up to the others quickly and had continued walking along the Highroad, taking out fiends as we went. Yuna had pulled Tidus to one side and apologised again for being so sharp with him. He had shaken his head and told her not to apologise, saying sorry himself for not realising how important the Calm was to everybody. He had rested his hands on her shoulders so he could look her in the eyes as he spoke, and I saw a faint blush creep onto Yuna's cheeks. I grinned. They were so cute together!

Not too long after we saw a large green cart in the distance, presumably being pulled by a chocobo. There were two figures in front of the cart who looked vaguely familiar, but they were too far away to properly make out. The cart started to move again and, out of curiosity, we followed it.

It came to a stop about 300 yards later as it pulled into the side of the road. As we approached we saw that the two people were Luzzu and Gatta. They waved at us as we walked over.

"Hey! We saw the game!" Gatta grinned at Tidus and Wakka. "You guys were great!"

Both of the boys blushed modestly. Luzzu smiled at both of them too. "I don't think I've ever seen a win like that!"

Luzzu continued to talk to Wakka and Tidus as the other gathered round, but Gatta turned to me.

"I saw you climbing up the sphere to help them," he said, a small frown on his face. "Did you manage alright? I heard a big explosion and panicked a bit."

I smiled and shook my head. "I was fine, honest. That explosion was me actually." I patted the bag on my hip where I kept my grenades. "I need to blow the hatch open."

Gatta's eyes widened. "You're a brave one, I'll give you that."

I laughed lightly and grinned. "Thanks."

Before either of us could say anymore I heard heavy footsteps coming from behind us. Lucil and Elma were approaching us on their chocobos. There was no sign of the young boy who had been with them before.

"Hey! Stop loafing around!" Elma called when she saw that the guys were talking to us.

Gatta rubbed the back of his head, uncomfortable, trying to come up with an excuse. "Uh…uh…the lady summoner and her guardians-"

"This mission requires our full attention," Lucil cut him off. "We've no time to waste. Understood?"

Luzzu saluted her. "Yes ma'am. Apologies ma'am."

"Carry on," she nodded to them.

Both she and Elma saluted Yuna before turning their chocobos round and running off down the road.

Luzzu turned to Gatta. "See? Keep your head down, say 'Sir' a lot, and you'll do fine!"

I smirked. "Well, maybe don't say 'Sir' to Lucil," I remarked. "_She _may get a little annoyed at that."

Luzzu chuckled and nodded his head. "Good point."

Gatta also chuckled before turning back to his superior. "We should be going sir."

Luzzu nodded. "Yes, you're right."

He turned to the rest of us. "I'm sure we'll be seeing you soon."

We all said our goodbyes before they collected the green cart - which was in fact being pulled by a chocobo – and went off in the same direction as Lucil and Elma.

"Wonder what they're up to…" Wakka mused.

I shrugged. "We'll probably find out soon enough."

* * *

We were off down the Highroad again when we came across a young woman in a robe speaking with another Crusader. And by speaking, I mean arguing. Pretty loudly. And it sounded like the Crusader was winning.

"We'll defeat Sin any way we can!" he was saying.

"But…Yevon's teachings say…" the young woman tried to argue.

"Enough!" the Crusader shouted before marching away.

The woman dropped her head and sighed heavily. "I…I only meant to…"

Yuna frowned, having heard the tail end of the argument, and walked up to the young woman. "Are you alright?" she asked.

The woman gasped and bowed. "Lady summoner?"

Yuna bowed back, smiling. "Yes. I am Yuna."

The woman was smiling now, although she looked quite flustered. "It is an honour, my lady. My name is Shelinda. I am a disciple of Yevon."

Shelinda wore a short-sleeved green robe with a dark blue and orange belt around her middle which had yellow beads dangling from it. Under the robe she had on a white blouse with yellow and red cuffs, and she had brown flat shoes which turned up at the tips on her feet. Her brown hair was mostly covered by her green hat, the same shade as the robe, with had two white cones, one at either side, with small gold spheres at the tip of each cone with white and pale blue strings dangling from them.

By this point Wakka, Lulu and the others had also walked over. "What was all that about?" Wakka asked referring to the argument Shelinda had just been in.

"The Crusaders operation?" I guessed.

Tidus frowned. "You mean the one Gatta and Luzzu were talking about?"

Shelinda nodded. "I heard they were to use forbidden machina. I had to stop them."

Tidus looked confused again. I was standing next to him so I elbowed him to get his attention before he could say something stupid.

"The use of machina is strictly forbidden by the Yevon priesthood," I explained quietly.

Tidus screwed his face up. "So they wouldn't have been happy with the stuff on your uncle's ship?"

I shook my head. "Definitely not."

Wakka had turned to Auron and Lulu. "That's bad, ya?"

Auron shrugged. "Let them use whatever they want. They still won't defeat Sin."

"But it's not about defeating Sin!" Shelinda said, exasperated. "The teachings of Yevon must be upheld!"

Wakka nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Right!"

Shelinda looked down. "But…you don't understand! The Crusaders won't even listen to me! And it's all because I'm just a lowly acolyte."

I frowned, folding my arms across my chest. I might not agree with all of Yevon's teachings but I didn't think it was fair for the Crusaders to be putting people like Shelinda down like this. She had as much of a right to put her points and beliefs across as the Crusaders did. That guy she had been talking to should have at least let her put her point across before he stormed off!

"Don't say that!" Yuna was saying to Shelinda. "I haven't been a summoner for very long myself you see. Still, I can't put myself down every time I fail."

She smiled at Shelinda, who had now raised her head to look at Yuna. "People are depending on me. They're depending on both of us!"

Shelinda nodded, now smiling herself. "Yes…yes, you're right my lady! Absolutely right."

Yuna smiled back and nodded.

"Thank you so much Lady Yuna," Shelinda continued. "Now I feel I have the courage to finish my training."

"I'm glad you feel that way," Yuna smiled, before bowing again. "I'm so sorry Miss Shelinda, but we have to be going now."

Shelinda also bowed. "Of course! I'm sorry my lady, I didn't mean to hold you up."

Yuna smiled warmly as she straightened up. "You didn't hold us up! It was lovely to speak with you. We really do have to keep going though; we need to find somewhere to rest before nightfall."

Shelinda looked uncertain suddenly. "Well…there _is _an inn just up ahead, but it's run by an Al Bhed named Rin."

Tidus glanced down at me with a look that said 'Do you know who that is?' and I nodded once without looking up at him. I didn't know Rin personally, but Rikku did, and he had inns dotted all around Spira.

Yuna bowed once again to Shelinda. "Thank you very much. We will see if we can spend the night there. Goodbye!"

Shelinda nodded again. "Goodbye my lady! And good luck to you and your guardians!"

* * *

We soon approached the inn, which I remembered Rikku had told me Rin called Travel Agencies. It was a fairly small building. It was only one story tall with an orange and yellow dome on the middle of the roof. The rest of the building had been painted in various colours – purples and greens and blues. There was two plaques, one either side of the building, both of which read 'Rin's Travel Agency' in Spiran.

As we walked towards the door Wakka stopped suddenly, and the rest of us followed suit, watching him as he frowned at the building. Auron however kept walking.

"We rest here," he said firmly.

"But this is an Al Bhed shop," Wakka complained, folding his arms across his chest.

Auron stopped walking and turned round, staring at Wakka. "Is that a problem?"

Wakka held his gaze. "They don't believe in Yevon," he said. "And in Luca they…" he looked down slightly, his jaw clenching, "…they kidnapped Yuna."

Yuna looked over at me, as did Tidus and Kimahri. I didn't look up at any of them, just staring straight at Auron. I was admittedly starting to get pissed off with Wakka's attitude towards us Al Bhed. Yes, some idiots had kidnapped Yuna, but first of all we'd got her back and she was fine, and second not all Al Bhed would do that! I wouldn't! Brother, Rikku and Cid wouldn't! And I had absolutely no idea what had made Nimrook and the others do it!

Yuna reached out and squeezed my hand. I squeezed it back without turning around.

"Where were her guardians?" Auron asked, revering to Wakka's comment that Yuna had been kidnapped.

Wakka grumbled something under his breath. Yuna let go of my hand and walked over to Wakka, resting her hand on his shoulder.

"Sir Auron's just concerned about your health," she told him gently. "You need your sleep."

"I'm not tired one bit!" Wakka insisted.

"Well, I am," Auron said before turning back around and walking into the inn.

Lulu looked at Wakka and nodded at him when he met her gaze. After a few moments Wakka nodded back and they both walked into the travel agency, followed by Yuna, Tidus, Kimahri and myself.

Tidus tried to speak to me as we entered but I just walked away. I knew he would have just wanted to make sure I was okay but, to be honest, I wasn't, and I didn't really want to talk about it. I heard Tidus starting to walk after me but he stopped suddenly. When I turned the corner to where the rooms were I saw Yuna holding him back. I flashed her a grateful smile before disappearing round the corner. I found an empty room, trusted that Wakka or Lulu would put two and two together and book it so I wasn't stealing someone else's room, and I flopped down on the bed face down after I'd closed the door. I didn't realise how tired I was, and I fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

I woke up a few hours later. I stretched and sat up slowly, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. Glancing at the mirror across the room from the bed I smirked at my bed head. Grabbing a brush that had been lying on a table next to the bed I pulled it quickly through my hair.

I looked out the window as I brushed out my bush of hair. The sun was now setting, setting the sky on fire with streaks of red and orange. There was a ruin which looked similar to the one we had seen at the start of the Highroad sitting out in the middle of the sea, the sun slowly sinking into the sea behind it. There was a cliff edge about fifty metres away from the front of the travel agent. Yuna was sitting there, her head slightly bent down, her mouth moving slightly as if she was talking to someone, but there was nobody there. Auron and Kimahri were both standing on either sides of the door. Wakka was sitting on the floor near Auron, stroking a chocobo that was tied up next to him. I couldn't see Tidus or Yuna so I presumed they were either downstairs in the lobby or they will still asleep.

I bit my lip. I had been pretty rude to Tidus. I should probably go and apologise.

I left the room, closing the door softly behind me, and made my way down the hall. Lulu was standing in the lobby, reading one of the many books that lined the walls. She turned when she heard me approaching.

"Did you manage to get some rest?" she asked, a book still open in her hands.

I nodded. "Yeah I did, thanks."

She nodded back. "Tidus hasn't come down yet. Everyone else is outside."

I sighed quietly before sitting down at a table near the door to the hallway, pulling a book off the shelf and reading it. It was written in Al Bhed and was about Spira's history. Not something I found particularly interesting, as I'd already been taught everything about that when I was younger, but it passed the time.

About five minutes later I heard footsteps behind me coming down the hall. I turned to see Tidus walking towards me. We both smiled.

"Hey," I said. "You get any sleep?"

He shrugged. "Not really. I couldn't get my brain to shut up."

I laughed slightly. "I know the feeling."

I put the book back and stood up, wiping my hands on the skirt of my dress nervously.

"Look, I'm really sorry I was so rude to you earlier," I started, looking down. "It wasn't fair of me to push you away like that when you hadn't done anything wrong."

I glanced up and Tidus was shaking his head. "Suki, you've got no reason to apologise. Better that you get a little bit mad at me than get really mad at Wakka and say something you'll regret. I didn't take it personally, I promise."

I smiled. "Thanks Tidus. You're pretty awesome."

He grinned. "I know."

I rolled my eyes and punched his arm. He stuck his tongue out at me before dodging my second attempt at punching and ducking out of the door. He stopped when he saw the sunset and gasped.

"Check it out…" he murmured under his breath.

I smiled and followed his gaze. "It's beautiful," I agreed.

He nodded slowly before his eyes dropped from the sunset to Yuna's back. I grinned.

"The sunset's not the only beautiful thing, huh?" I chuckled, elbowing Tidus gently in the ribs.

He mumbled something under his breath, blushing furiously, before walking towards Yuna. I held back my giggles and walked after him.

"Whatcha up to?" Tidus called to Yuna once we got close.

Yuna turned her head quickly, a bit of a shocked look on her face. When she saw it was us she smiled. I noticed her scooping something lying on the ground closer to her, but I couldn't see what it was.

Tidus sat down next to Yuna, and I next to him. All three of us watched the sunset in silence for a while.

"Pretty…" Yuna sighed somewhat wistfully.

"Sure is…" Tidus agreed, dropping his gaze from the horizon down to the ground.

I noticed and smiled but didn't say anything. It was so blatantly obvious that Tidus liked Yuna, but it wasn't down to me to interfere. I might just be a kid, as much as I continue to deny it, but I knew what love looked like. The sneaking glances that Tidus shot at Yuna, the way his face lit up whenever she smiled at him, the way he looked at her when he thought no-one was paying attention. They seemed perfect for each other, in my eyes anyway.

"I wish I could live in a place like this," Yuna admitted quietly. "Peaceful. Living with a smile on my face every day."

Tidus and I both turned to her. "You can once you beat Sin, right?" Tidus pointed out.

Yuna smiled, but sadly, and nodded hesitantly. I frowned.

"But then…" Yuna looked down, "a new Sin will be born anyway…"

"Well, then you can just beat it again," Tidus said simply.

"I…wish I could," she sighed.

"Hey, you can!" I insisted. "You're the best summoner out there!"

She smiled gratefully at both of us, but still looked unconvinced.

We sat in silence for a while longer under Tidus asked a question.

"Yuna? Why does Sin always come back?"

"Sin is…our punishment for our vanity," she explained, as if this small speech was something she had rehearsed. "And it will not going away until we've atoned."

Tidus frowned. "How do we do that?" he asked.

Yuna frowned, as if she was thinking about it.

"What did we do that was so bad in the first place?" I pointed out. Was it using loads of machina or something?"

Tidus frowned again. "Is that such a bad thing really?"

Yuna looked confused. "…It's funny…Ever since I was young I never questioned it. But now that you ask me if it is that bad or not…I don't know."

She lifted her head to stare at the sunset again. "There are so many things I don't know…" she sighed sadly.

Tidus stood up. "Well then, we're the same."

He grinned slightly before putting on a very strange but rather familiar voice.

"Such thinking is very unbecoming of a summoner," he said, unable to stop grinning.

Yuna looked confused. I was too until I figured out where I knew the voice from. I waved my hand around in the air.

"Oh oh oh! I got it! Maester Micah, right?"

Tidus applauded me. "Got it in one!"

I did a half-bow where I was sitting. "Thank you, thank you very much."

By this point Yuna was smiling and giggling again. Tidus and I grinned before joining in with her laughter.

Yuna looked up at Tidus. "That's not very nice you know," she scolded before starting to laugh again.

When we eventually stopped, Tidus stretched his arms above his head as Yuna and I stood up.

"You know," Tidus started, "during a game, you've gotta think of Blitz and nothing else, you know?"

Yuna frowned slightly, unsure of where he was going with this, but she nodded. "Okay."

He started to pace around, as if he wasn't sure where he was going with this himself, until he started talking again.

"You can't think, 'That's a cute girl on the fifth seat from the right.' And you can't be thinking about where you're going to go on that date, because the minute you do, that's when you lose."

Yuna was smiling again, as was I, but we both still had no idea what he was talking about.

"You see Yuna, what I mean is you really shouldn't worry, you know? After we beat Sin, _that's _when you can worry about the future."

Yuna nodded. "I guess…"

I hated to ruin the mood, but I had a question.

"But Yuna, how are you supposed to beat something _big _like that?" I asked.

Yuna's head dropped again slightly.

"The Final Summoning," she answered without missing a beat.

Something about the way she said that made both Tidus and I stop and listen intently to what she was saying.

"It's the only way to defeat Sin," she continued. "The only way… With it we can call the Final Aeon. That's the goal of the pilgrimage. The Fayth of the Final Summoning lies waiting in the far north to greet summoners that complete their pilgrimage. At the world's edge in Zanarkand."

Tidus' eyes lit up. "In Zanarkand?!"

Yuna seemed to realise what she'd said. She turned to Tidus and shook her head. Before she could say anything a voice from behind us spoke up.

"She means the ruins of a city destroyed 1000 years ago."

The three of us turned to see Auron standing there. Tidus frowned at him for a moment before turning back to Yuna.

"You sure it's ruins?" he asked.

She nodded. "That's what I've heard."

"You'll see it for yourself soon enough," Auron said to him before looking at Yuna. "Yuna, come back inside," he said before turning at walking back down to the inn.

Yuna and I glanced at each other before both of us looked up at Tidus. He was staring at the ground, no emotion on his face.

"You will go with us to Zanarkand?" Yuna asked him.

He looked up at her and nodded once. "Yeah…I'll go." he said quietly. "I'll go to Zanarkand…see it with my own eyes."

He looked back once over the cliff at the sunset before turning and following Auron without another word. Yuna followed quickly after him. I stayed where I was. Yuna turned back to look at me, and Tidus in turn stopped to look back at her. I smiled and nodded and Yuna, gesturing for her to go in. She nodded back before turning and walking into the inn next to Tidus.

I turned back to look at the sea, sitting down at the cliff edge, my legs dangling over the drop. I had always loved the sea. I had spent a lot of time out on it while on Uncle Cid's ship. I'd grown up in the middle of the desert back at Home, so the sea always seemed really exciting to me.

I sighed quietly to myself. I knew that somewhere out there, Rikku and Brother were on the salvage ship, probably arguing. I wondered if they were worried about me. I hoped they weren't. I hoped Nimrook got a message to them soon to let them know I was okay.

I lay down on my back, staring up at the sky. I let my eyes close over and before I knew it I had drifted off, soothed to sleep by the sound of the waves.

* * *

I was half aware that I was swaying. I felt something that was carrying me lower me down before placing me on something soft. A bed?

I opened my eyes ever so slightly and saw Kimahri. I vaguely remembered falling asleep outside. Kimahri must have seen me and carried me in.

He had turned to leave, not noticing I had woken up.

"Thank you Kimahri," I mumbled, still half asleep.

He stopped with his back to me, before grunting something quietly and softly closing the door behind him. I was soon asleep again.


	25. Chapter 24 - Formalities

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry this took so long! I thought I'd have more time once exams were over but we've got our new timetable already and I've been busy getting stuff ready for my new subjects. I'm not going to promise that I'll get these up faster, cause every time I do that something happens that delays me! **

**Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review!**

**This chapter is dedicated to LoverDreamerFighter, Ahntyanya's-Hope, npalomo and Commisar Admiral Kordoshky.**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 24 - Formality**

I woke up pretty early the next morning. After making my bed up I quickly darted down the hall towards the reception, my main worry being if Tidus was alright. He had seemed pretty shaken up the night before when Yuna had mentioned Zanarkand.

He was already at the reception, talking to the young Al Bhed behind the desk. He smiled and walked over when he spotted me.

"Hey. You sleep alright?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I fell asleep outside, but Kimahri carried me in."

Tidus raised an eyebrow. "That was awful nice of him," he mused.

I shrugged. "More to the point, are you okay? You seemed a bit out of it last night."

Tidus' face fell slightly. "I'm fine. I guess…I guess I just wasn't ready to hear it. I mean, I know that you and Rikku told me that Zanarkand was in ruins, but hearing it from Auron…it made it feel so much more real."

He shook his head and looked down. "Sorry, I'm babbling. Just ignore me."

I nudged him gently. "Hey, you're not babbling. It's fine. Don't apologise."

He looked back up and smiled. "Thanks Suki."

I nodded and smiled back before we both headed towards the door. Just as we were about to leave a man walked it. He had shoulder length blonde hair and the same green eyes as all Al Bhed. He wore a yellow jacket, open to show his chest, with white cuffs and a white collar, blue and brown pants with a red belt, and brown boots. He had goggles similar to mine perched on his forehead and a red choker round his neck.

The man bumped into us as we both tried to pass through the door in opposite directions.

"_Pardon me!" _he apologised in Al Bhed.

I bowed politely. "_Please, don't apologise. It was my fault; I wasn't looking where I was going._"

The man raised an eyebrow, and impressed look on his face. Tidus on the other hand just looked confused, as was becoming common.

"Um…sorry?" he said, swapping looked between the man and me.

"Ah! Forgive me sir," he said to Tidus, smiling. "I meant to say 'pardon me' but it came out in Al Bhed."

His eyes widened. "Oh! You're an Al Bhed too?"

The man nodded. "I am Rin, owner of this establishment. Hela du saad oui."

Tidus frowned. "Huh?"

"It means 'Nice to meet you'," I translated.

"Ah! Well…hela du saad oui to you too!" he smiled.

I grinned, as did Rin before he walked over to the bookcase. "If you are interested, Al Bhed Primers can be found all over Spira. Finding them and learning our language might be fun!"

He pulled a book off the shelf and handed it to Tidus. "Here, let me give you one as commemoration of our meeting."

"Although you might want to be careful where you speak our language," I piped up.

Rin nodded in agreement as Tidus took the book.

"Thank you very much," Tidus smiled, before returning to the conversation. "I hear Al Bhed aren't liked much."

He seemed to realise what he said and grimaces. "Sorry."

Rin sighed and nodded. "_It's a shame,_" he agreed in Al Bhed.

Before either of us could reply there was a sudden piercing scream outside.

"Someone help! The chocobos!" a woman yelled.

Auron ran in through the door. "That's our cue," he said to us. "Let's go."

We both nodded and Auron left again. Tidus ran after him. I was about to follow when Rin grabbed my arm.

"_You are Cid's niece, are you not?" _he said. _"The cousin of Rikku and Brother?"_

I nodded. _"Have you spoken to them recently?" _I asked.

"_Yes. They asked me if you'd past through here. This was before you arrived so I said you hadn't."_

I bit my lip. _"Did they seem worried?"_

"_Of course they're worried. But they understand what you're doing. It's my understanding that Nimrook of the Psyches informed them that you were traveling with Lady Yuna as one of her Guardians."_

Rin smiled. _"They ask me to inform them if you passed this way. I hope you understand that I have a promise to fulfil."_

I nodded. _"Of course. I want them to know that I'm safe."_

Before Rin could say anything else Tidus stuck his head through the door.

"Suki! Come on! We've gotta go!" he yelled.

I nodded. "Sorry! I'm coming!"

I turned back to Rin as Tidus left again. _"I'm sorry, but I have to go. Please tell my family that I'm safe."_

He smiled and nodded. _"Of course I will."_

I bowed respectfully before dashing out of the door.

Everyone was waiting for me. Lulu was leaning against a pillar next to the door. She stood up straight when I walked out.

"To the chocobo corral," she said, and we all nodded.

We were about to leave when suddenly a huge group of chocobos ran past us. Suddenly a huge roar came from behind us. We turned and saw a huge fiend towering over the inn.

"…_Cred_," I muttered.

The fiend had two huge arms with pincer-like things for hands. Most of his body was a silvery-blue colour except for its metallic-brown pincers, its claw-like feet of the same colour and two large purple-red bulges on the back of its head. Its bottom jaw was split in two, as if it was two separate mouths, but its top jaw was just one large jaw. Its mouth was filled with large yellow teeth and each bottom jaw had a purple tongue.

It held a squirming chocobo in its right pincer. The fiend jumped over the inn and as it did the chocobo squealed even louder. It managed to slip out of the fiend's grasp and ran away in the same direction as its companions.

The seven of us surrounded the fiend on all sides. Tidus, Auron and I started by attacking it's pincers with our swords. Lulu backed us up with some fire magic. The fiend lashed out with its pincers and sliced Tidus. He staggered back before Yuna cast a healing spell on him. He flashed her a smile of thanks as Lulu cast another fire spell, sending the fiend onto its back.

"Now!" she said. "Hit it hard and we can push it back!"

Auron and Kimahri both nodded before they both ran forward and slashed at the fiend, causing it to roll backwards towards the cliff. I smirked. I saw what Lulu's plan was; to push the fiend over the cliff.

Wakka hurled his ball at the fiend once it was back on its feet, and I threw a grenade which pushed it back a little further. Lulu seemed to have figured out that it was weak to fire magic as she cast another spell which sent the fiend onto its back again, its limbs flailing. Auron and Kimahri once again smacked it and sent it flying to the cliff edge. It rolled back onto its feet before running at us, sending us backwards and managing to drag itself further away from the cliff edge. Lulu gritted her teeth and blasted it with another two fire spells. The fiend staggered back to the cliff edge before casting a blizzard spell which hit Wakka. Yuna also healed him.

Kimahri and Auron rammed it again, sending it onto its back before Tidus and I both ran at it together and, with one final push, shoved it over the edge. A huge splash and a cloud of pyreflies later and it was over.

I flashed a grin at Lulu. "Not bad."

She smirked. "Not bad yourself."

Suddenly the chocobos were back, running about in front of the inn, with the threat of being eaten having disappeared. I smiled, as did Yuna, Tidus and Wakka.

"That was very impressive."

We all turned to see Rin standing next to us, smiling. Yuna smiled back and bowed politely.

"Thank you sir," she said.

Rin looked round at the birds running about.

"Have you an interest in renting some chocobos?" he asked. "As a token of our gratitude, the first time is free of charge. Please ask the attendant if you wish to rent." He gestured to the young woman standing next to him.

My eyes lit up, as did Yuna's. I had wanted to ride a chocobo since I was a kid. Yuna, Rikku and I used to talk about riding them when we were little; how we would sneak onto a chocobo farm and ride the chocobos around all night long.

We both turned to face Lulu, pleading looks on our faces. She sighed before looking over at Auron, who shrugged. We took that to mean we were allowed to ride them and squealed before running over to the attendant who was already saddling up two chocobos for us. She gave both of us a boost and soon we were running around the space in front of the inn riding the huge yellow birds.

Yuna was smiling and laughing. I hadn't seen her so carefree in a while. It was nice to see, and it made me smile too. Despite her being older than me, I worried about my cousin a lot. She had a huge burden on her shoulders. But as Wakka had said, that was the job of us guardians: to relieve her of some of that burden.

Suddenly a third chocobo charged at us both. We pulled our birds back before seeing that Tidus was riding it. Soon a mad game of tag ensued.

I slowed down my chocobo after a while and just sat watching Yuna and Tidus. Yuna always seemed at her happiest around Tidus. I was so grateful to him at how much he'd helped Yuna, even if he didn't realise it. Besides that, I saw the way they acted around each other. It was obvious to anyone who watched them together for more than ten seconds: they were falling for each other.

I thought it was really sweet, but I somehow doubted that the others, particularly Lulu, would see it that way. I sighed to myself, before shaking my head. No matter what anyone else said, I was going to support them. Part of me wondered if I would ever feel the same way about someone that Tidus and Yuna felt for each other… Oh well! There's always Hope.

* * *

Before long Lulu told us it was time to leave (or to be more exact, she said it was time to "stop fooling around") and we were once again walking down the Highroad. I tried to keep my grumbling that we could have made this trip much faster if we had been riding the chocobos to a minimum, with limited success. Eventually we reached a huge archway which was being blocked by the cart that Luzzu and Gatta had been directing the day before. Tidus, Wakka and I peeked round the side of the cart to see the two of them saluting another Crusader.

"Gatta and Luzzu reporting, sir!" Gatta announced.

"This is the last of them," Luzzu said, referring to whatever was in the cart behind them.

The other Crusader nodded. "Good to have you with us. Go on through."

A deep grumbling came from the back of the cart suddenly, and Wakka, Tidus and I backed away slowly. Gatta spotted us and waved.

"Show me how to play Blitz sometime!" he called to Tidus and Wakka.

Luzzu was also smiling. "Wait around," he said. "We'll have Sin beaten in no time."

I raised an eyebrow. What exactly were they planning on doing?

As they lead the cart away, the other Crusader spotted us and walked over.

"Any donation towards Operation Mi'ihen would be greatly appreciated," he said, looking eager.

Everyone bar me and Tidus looked wary, but Tidus pulled about 100 Gil out of his pocket and handed it to the man. He smiled.

"Thank you for your generosity," he said.

We continued walking, following where the cart had gone. I walked next to Wakka.

"Any idea what Operation Mi'ihen is?" I asked.

Wakka shook his head. "Beats me! I've never heard of it."

Just as we were about to pass under the arch, another Crusader stopped us.

"I'm sorry, I can't let you pass," he said.

He spotted Yuna and his eyes widened. "Hey, you're a summoner and her guardians, right? Sorry for the inconvenience."

Yuna smiled. "Please, don't apologise. We understand."

"Hey," Tidus piped up. "What's this operation about anyway?"

Tha man frowned. "What, they didn't tell you? We're bringing in Sin Spawn from all over Spira here. Sin Spawn inevitably draws Sin, right? We're going to lure it into a trap."

Everyone (other than Auron and Kimahri, who never reacted to anything anyway) looked shocked. That seemed like a kind of smart but very stupid idea. Smart because it had good logic behind it; bad because they were probably all going to get themselves killed.

I turned to Lulu. "So, what do we do now?"

She looked thoughtful. "Well, if there's no way of getting through this way then we'll just have to circle back and find another route."

Everyone nodded and we all turned to walk back the way we came.

As we passed under the arch again I saw a small group of people walking towards us. I squinted. I could swear I recognised the man in the front…

I froze in place when I realised who it was. I managed to get control of my limbs and walked ten paces back, standing behind Tidus and Wakka.

It was Maester Seymour.

By this point everyone else had figured out who was walking towards them and had also stopped. Seymour's group also came to a stop in front of us. Yuna stared for a few moments in awe before getting a hold of herself and bowing. Seymour politely bowed back.

"So, we meet again Lady Yuna," he said.

Yuna stood up slowly. "Y…yes…"

Seymour frowned, looking genuinely concerned. "You look troubled. Is there anything I can do?"

Yuna gasped at his offer. "W…well…" she started, before turning round to look down the path the cart had taken. I hid a smirk. Looks like we wouldn't have to circle back and find another path after all.

Seymour followed Yuna's gaze. "I see," he nodded, before walking up to one of the Crusaders.

"Maester Seymour," the Crusader saluted. "Let me show you to the command centre."

"Hold," he said. "I have a request."

The Crusader nodded curtly. "Yes, your grace."

"I need to have Summoner Yuna and her guardians let through to the command centre," he explained.

The Crusader looked round at us and frowned. "But…but Maester Seymour…Maester Seymour sir…" the young man stammered.

"Do not worry. I will take full responsibility," Seymour reassured him.

"…Very well. They may pass," the young man agreed, saluting Seymour once again.

Seymour nodded to him before turning to face us again. "It is done," he announced.

Yuna gasped again, before smiling and bowing. "Thank you, your grace."

Seymour nodded to her before turning and following another Crusader down the path, followed by the other two people who had walked down with him. Even though he now had his back to us, Yuna bowed once again. She didn't straighten back up until Lulu gently laid a hand on her back and said, "Yuna, it's time to go."

She stood up and nodded. "Oh, right."

Yuna, Lulu, Auron and Kimahri all followed Seymour. Tidus, Wakka and I lagged behind.

"Who does he think he is?" Tidus grumbled, glaring after Seymour. I hid a grin, glad that I wasn't the only one who wasn't fond of the new Maester.

Wakka chuckled and clapped Tidus on the shoulder. "He's a Maester. Better get used to it, yah?"

Tidus huffed again before the three of us followed the rest of the group.

Just as we were about to pass under the arch I thought I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see Dona and Barthello standing at the end of the path, about 25 metres behind me. I stopped and scowled at them, Dona in particular. She noticed and smirked before turning and walking back the other way, Barthello following like a lost puppy. I glared after them.

* * *

As we approached a large clear next to the sheer drop of a cliff down to the sea, we heard Seymour giving a speech.

"Brave Crusaders of Spira, protectors of all Spira, believe in the path you have chosen! Let faith be your strength! I, Seymour Guado, Maester of Yevon, will bear witness to your deeds today!"

"Sir!" all of the Crusader replied in unison, saluting their Maester.

I smirked. I may not like Seymour, but I had to admit that he was a dab hand at motivational speeches.

Wakka was frowning. "What's going on? Why's Maester Seymour backin' the Crusaders, eh? They're using Al Bhed machina! They're violating the teachings!"

I was confused. What was he talking about? I couldn't see and machine, Al Bhed or otherwise!

Tidus must have noticed my confused as he motioned for me to stand next to him. From his vantage point I could see past the large group of Crusaders who had gathered around Seymour. Wakka was right; there was a lot of machina there, all of it aiming at the sea. I frowned. The machine they had was nowhere near strong enough to take down Sin. It may wound it, but never kill it.

Yuna looked past all of us and was watching Seymour. "Even if it's against the teachings, they're willing to risk it for the greater good."

She turned back to Wakka. "Wakka, I think Maester Seymour sees that too."

Wakka made some sort of exasperated nose before turning to the only other real Yevonite in our group. "Lulu?" he begged.

Lulu was frowning. "I can only speculate," she shrugged.

Wakka grumbled under his breath.

"Ask him yourself," Auron suggested.

We all turned to see Seymour walking back towards us. He stopped and looked at Auron who deliberately avoided his gaze.

"Ah…Sir Auron. It is an honour. I would be most interested in hearing what you've been doing these past ten years."

I frowned, as did Tidus. There it was: that hint of venom which occasionally seemed to creep into his voice.

"I've got nothing to say about it," Auron replied before walking away.

Seymour frowned after him. "I…see…"

He looked back round at Yuna. "Sir Auron must be a great asset as a guardian," he said.

Yuna seemed star-struck again. She was silent for a moment before once again bowing quickly. "Your grace!"

It took all my willpower to not reach out and strangle her for sounding like such an idiot. Yes, I know she admired this man, especially since he too was a summoner, but she didn't have to act like this around him all the time!

Apparently this was something Seymour and I agreed on, as he said, "Please, there's no need for formalities."

She looked slightly shocked, but before she could argue (or say anything for that matter) Wakka stepped in.

"Um…excuse me, Maester Seymour? Why is…your Lordship…presently…present here…sir?"

I didn't care that a Maester of Yevon was standing right in front of me. I facepalmed. I spotted Tidus holding back a chuckle out of the corner of my eye.

Seymour smiled slightly. "Please, speak as you normally would."

Wakka took a deep breath and tried again. "Uh…isn't this operation against the teachings of Yevon? Aren't you gonna stop them?" he demanded.

Seymour nodded. "It's true, I should."

Wakka nodded in agreement.

"However," Seymour continued, "both the Crusaders and the Al Bhed truly wish peace for Spira. This Operation Mi'ihen was born from that wish they share. Although it may be sacrilege to Yevon their intentions are pure. And I, Seymour Guado the person, not the Maester of Yevon - as a denizen of Spira - I wish them well in their endeavour."

Okay, _now _I was confused. I was firm in the fact that I didn't like this guy. But…he did seem to be talking a lot of sense. What he said was true; we Al Bhed wanted Sin to be gone as much as the rest of Spira did. We just went about it differently. I appreciated that he could see that, but still…something still seemed off about him to me.

Wakka seemed shocked. "But…using machina…that's bad, isn't it?"

Seymour shrugged, a small smirk on his face. "Pretend you didn't see them," he suggested.

Everyone gasped, myself and Tidus included. Alright, never mind. I take it back. I didn't like him.

"I beg your pardon, but…that's not something a Maester should say!" Wakka blurted out.

"Then pretend I didn't say it," Seymour smirked.

"Y…You're kidding…" Wakka murmured. I felt for the guy. He had looked up to Seymour when he first became a Maester, and anyone could plainly see his faith in the new Maester wavering.

Seymour was now walking away from us. I could see Wakka's hands had clenched into fists. He was looking down at the ground, refusing to meet any of our gazes. I glared after Seymour, as did Tidus. If looks could kill, he'd have been dead.

But even after all that, Yuna still bowed as he left.


	26. Chapter 25 - Plotting

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm going to Mexico tomorrow! This basically means no updates for two weeks since internet out there isn't the best. It also means I won't be able to reply to reviews as quickly as I usually do, but I will reply to them as soon as I can! I'll try and update as quickly as I can once I get back!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Fluttered Pulses of a Daydream and Arrowhead Sn.**

**DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.**

* * *

**Chapter 25 - Plotting**

Not long after Seymour had left us, a young Crusader had approached us and said that the Maester had requested our presence at the command centre. The main route was out of bound since the Crusaders were still getting things ready, so it took us around 20 minutes to walk there on a rocky side path. It would have taken us less time but we had to stop and fight fiends that appeared every two minutes.

"You'd have thought the Crusaders would have dealt with all the fiends since they're so close to the command centre," Tidus complained during a fight. I huffed in agreement before dodging out of the way of a fire blast and throwing a grenade.

Once we got to the entrance to the command centre Wakka nudged me and Tidus and nodded at a ledge below us. Luzzu and Gatta were standing there, and it sounded like they were arguing.

"Why only you sir?" Gatta was saying. "I wanna fight too!"

"Orders are orders," Luzzu replied.

Gatta clenched his fists. "I'm not a cadet anymore sir. Let me go with you and I'll prove it to them," he insisted.

Luzzu rested a hand on Gatta's shoulder. "Guarding the command centre is important too you know," he attempted to reassure him.

Gatta was shaking his head now, pushing Luzzu's hand away. "But I came all the way from Besaid to fight Sin sir!"

Luzzu took a deep breath. "I know, but an order's an order. Back to your post, Crusader."

"But, sir!"

Luzzu stared him down. Gatta held his gaze for a moment before letting out a grunt of frustration and stalking away. Luzzu looked down, a flash of guilt crossing his face.

Tidus, Wakka and I all nodded to each other before walking towards where Luzzu was still standing. Yuna, Lulu, Kimahri and Auron saw who we were walking towards and followed us.

Luzzu smiled slightly when he saw us. "They let you through, huh?"

"Hmm," was all that Wakka had to say.

Tidus looked thoughtful. I nudged him. "What's up?" I asked.

He looked at me before turning to Luzzu. "Gatta deserves better," he said simply.

Wakka shrugged. "At least there's no chance he'll get hurt," he pointed out to us before also turning to Luzzu. "Why're you guys fighting anyway? Aren't the _all-mighty Al Bhed machina _enough?" he asked mockingly. I rolled my eyes but stayed quiet.

Luzzu ignored his tone. "They still need some time to get them ready," he answered, looking at Tidus and I instead of Wakka. "Our job is to keep Sin at bay till they're done."

Wakka groaned in frustration, looking like he wanted to slap Luzzu.

By this point Yuna, Lulu and the others had joined us. Luzzu locked eyes with Lulu. She shook her head slightly, but Luzzu shot her an apologetic smile before turning to Wakka, who now had his back to him.

"Wakka. I might not get another chance to say this. It's about your brother."

Everyone turned to look at Luzzu. Lulu's face fell.

"Luzzu, no!" she cried.

Wakka frowned at Lulu before turning to Luzzu. "What?"

Luzzu steadily held Wakka's gaze, the pain in his eye evident. "I'm the one who convinced him to enlist."

Yuna and I both gasped softly. Tidus' eyes flew to Wakka's face. He was now staring at Lulu, his face filled with shock. Lulu turned away from his gaze, her eyes closed.

Wakka turned away from Lulu and looked back up at Luzzu. He slowly walked towards him. Luzzu was still holding his gaze.

"I'm sorry," he apologised, bowing his head.

Wakka's jaw clenched and his eyes closed for a moment before he punched Luzzu right in the face causing him to fall to the ground.

Tidus immediately grabbed him and held him back as Luzzu tried to stand back up so that he couldn't do it again. "That's enough Wakka!" he cried.

Eventually he stopped struggling so Tidus let him go. Luzzu was still on the ground. His lip was bleeding, and he'd definitely have a black eye in the morning. Wakka was standing over Luzzu who had his face turned in the opposite direction.

"When we used to play Blitz together," Wakka started, "Chappu used to say…"

He looked away for a moment, before swallowing and looking back at Luzzu.

"He'd say that…when we won the cup, ya, he'd propose to Lulu."

A single tear ran down Wakka's cheek. I heard a sniff from Lulu and turned to face her, but she still had her face turned away. I bit my lip. So that was the connection between Wakka, Lulu and Chappu. Lulu and Chappu had been together before he died…

"And then one day," Wakka continued, "he goes off and becomes a Crusader just like that."

Luzzu began to stand up. "Chappu also said to me…that being with your girl is good, but keeping Sin far away from her is better."

Lulu raised her head for a moment to glance at Luzzu and Wakka before dropping it again. But when her head was up I saw that her eyes were red. I walked over slowly and rested my hand on her arm. She didn't see me coming and jumped slightly at the sudden contact, but when she realised it was me she smiled ever so slightly and murmured, "Thank you."

Wakka had turned to look at Lulu and realised that she had been crying. "Lu…you knew?"

She nodded slightly, still refusing to look him in the eye. "Luzzu told me…before we left."

Luzzu chuckled slightly. "She hit me too," he informed us.

Yuna, Tidus and I all laughed softly under our breath. I squeezed Lulu's arm.

"I hope you hit him hard," I whispered. She laughed in spite of herself and smiled again, looking up at me properly this time.

Suddenly we heard the sound of a chocobo running past on the ledge above us with Lucille riding on it.

"All Crusaders in that band guard are to assemble on the beach!" she was calling.

Luzzu looked up before looking back at all of us again.

"That's my cue," he informed us.

He started to walk away before Wakka suddenly called out.

"Luzzu! Don't die out there."

Luzzu turned back to face him, a small smile on his face. "What, so you can hit me more?"

Wakka nodded, rolling the shoulder of his punching arm backwards as if he was getting ready. "Lots, lots more!"

Wakka and Luzzu looked at each other for a few more moments. Wakka gave him a nod. Luzzu nodded back before turning to continue walking back up to the ledge above us. Yuna, however, jumped in front of him, her arms spread out wide to block his path.

"Sir Luzzu, please! Please don't go!" she cried.

There were tears in her eyes. I realised that Yuna must have known Luzzu since she was a child. She probably looked up to him as he would have been older than her.

Luzzu's eyes softened. "I have to, Yuna."

Yuna looked like she was about to protest, but somebody else stepped in.

"Let him go."

Everyone, Luzzu included, turned to look at Auron. Yuna slowly lowered her arms.

"The man has already chosen his path," Auron continued. "As you did when you became a summoner."

Yuna's head dropped and she squeezed her eyes shut as if she was trying to stop tears from falling. Without looking back up at Luzzu she stepped out of his way. Luzzu nodded to Auron, who nodded back, before he continued up the slope to the ledge.

I frowned, confused. I wasn't entirely sure why Yuna had let him past. I noticed that Tidus was also frowning. I also saw that Kimahri was looking at me with a look of worry in his eyes.

It would be a long time before I ever really understood why Yuna let Luzzu past that day.

* * *

As we continued on our way to the command centre we found ourselves walking along another cliff dotted with machina. These machina were much bigger than the ones on the other cliff that we'd seen when Seymour had been talking to the Crusaders.

Wakka marched over to one of the large cannon machina and practically growled at it.

"Curse these…" he muttered before giving it a good hard kick. He paused for a moment before howling in pain and hopping about on his good foot.

Tidus, Lulu and I were standing further back watching this. Tidus shook his head.

"He _really _hates them, huh?" he commented.

Lulu looked down. "Chappu…he left the sword Wakka gave him in Besaid…and he fought with an Al Bhed machina weapon instead."

Tidus' gaze met mine and we both bit our lips before turning back to look at Wakka. Turns out Wakka had overheard us as he looked up and glared.

"That's got nothin' to do with it!" he insisted. "I just hate these sacrilegious contraptions!" He glared at the machina next to him as if it was its fault that he'd hurt his foot. He stomped away in a huff in the direction Yuna, Auron and Kimahri had gone. Lulu rolled her eyes and followed him.

I walked up to the machina and rested my hands on it and frowned. I was sure I recognised this machine… I ran my hand up to the front of the cannon and crouched down to see under it. I smiled slightly.

By this point Tidus had walked up behind me and was frowning.

"Um, Suki? What're you doing?"

I motioned for him to come down and look. He did so and I pointed up and a small inscription in Al Bhed on the bottom of the cannon.

"That's Uncle Cid's," I explained. "It's like his signature. He puts it on anything he works on."

Tidus grinned. "So your uncle is helping too?"

I nodded before looking back at the inscription, still smiling. Looks like Uncle Cid was still looking after me, even if he didn't realise it.

* * *

We soon caught up to the others. Wakka and Yuna were looking down at the beach below us where people were getting everything ready for the operation. There were Crusaders, the Chocobo Knights, and some Al Bhed, although from this height I couldn't tell if it was anyone I knew.

There was a large metal contraption which was shaking slightly also down on the beach. The cart that Luzzu and Gatta had been directing was also there. The Sin spawn that was in there was getting forced out and into the metal cage which I realised was filled with other Sin spawn, and a lot of them.

Wakka was grumbling under his breath as he watched this. "It won't work anyway!" he insisted.

"Don't say that," Yuna replied without looking round at him. "It might be a hopeless campaign, and it might mean defying Yevon, but the Crusaders and the Al Bhed: they're doing their best to defeat Sin."

I raised an eyebrow, thinking of how she sounded like she was almost repeating exactly what Seymour had said earlier.

"They want to rid Spira of Sin forever!" she continued. "And that's just what we want too, isn't it?"

She turned to look at Wakka, her face very serious. "Isn't it?" she repeated.

Wakka sighed heavily. "Alright, alright. But I still think machina are bad news. They're forbidden for a reason."

"Yeah, because Yevon's too stubborn to try anything new," I muttered under my breath.

Tidus looked down at me, shocked. Wakka, thankfully, didn't hear me.

Before anyone else could say anything, Lucil ran up to us.

"Lady Summoner, there you are!"

She pointed to our right. "The command centre is that way. Maester Kinoc is also there."

Yuna's eyes widened. "Maester Kinoc too?"

Lucil nodded. "Yes. Please hurry, my Lady."

We all nodded back and made our way quickly to the command centre.

* * *

At the entrance to the command centre stood a very familiar Crusader. He acknowledged us with a nod, but he didn't smile. In fact, he looked miserable.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Of course not!" he sighed. "I came here to fight Sin, but they stick me here!"

"If you want to prove yourself…"

Gatta turned to Auron, frowning. "Huh?"

"First you must complete the tasks you are given," Auron finished.

Gatta looked down, still grumping. "Just doing what they say? It just won't be enough. I'll do something…even if it means bending the rules."

Tidus nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you should be out on the front lines!"

Gatta nodded back. "You're right! It's not fair!"

With that he stormed off. I thought I saw Auron shake his head slightly at Tidus before he walked into the command centre followed by the rest of us.

Maester Kinoc was sitting down, but stood when he saw us approaching. Kinoc was quite a chubby man, and bald with a small yellow skull cap covering the top of his head. He wore a yellow robe with long white sleeves and an orange collar. The robe had an orange fringe at the hem and a white and black stripe down the centre of the robe. He had on a thin dark blue scarf with gold talismans dangling at the end of them.

"I had heard from Seymour but I didn't know if we'd actually meet," he smiled. "Good to see you Auron."

The Maester then proceeded to hug Auron. Hug him. _Hug. Him. _

Auron didn't even attempt to hide the contempt on his face. Kinoc ignored this and carried on.

"Ten years is it?" he asked, still smiling and chuckling.

Tidus was looking confused again. Lulu noticed and leaned back to talk to him.

"That's Wen Kinoc, one of the four Maesters of Yevon," she explained. "He leads the warrior monks and commands the Crusaders."

Suddenly a Crusader ran in and saluted Maester Kinoc. "All troops ready to move at your command sir!" he reported.

Kinoc saluted back to him. "Good. Dismissed."

Wakka and Lulu followed the Crusader out just as Maester Seymour walked in. I glared at him momentarily – which he didn't notice – before returning my attention to Maester Kinoc.

"Tell me Auron," he was saying, "where have you been these last ten years?"

"We don't have time for this now, do we?" Auron pointed out.

Kinoc gave him a look. "This plan won't work. You know that." He smirked. "We'll just let them dream a little longer."

"Excuse me!?" I exclaimed. Kinoc frowned at me, as if he had just realised I was there.

"How can you say that?" I cried, my fists clenched. "Those people down there, the Crusaders, the Chocobo Knights, and the Al Bhed, they all think they're doing the right thing. If you know this isn't going to work then as a Maester you have a duty to stop them so that they don't all die!"

Tidus had raised an eyebrow, but was smiling slightly. Yuna was standing behind me so I couldn't see her reaction, but I imagine she wasn't very happy with me talking back to a Maester. And Auron…Auron actually looked slightly impressed.

Before Kinoc could say anything in reply, Seymour interrupted.

"Lord Kinoc," he said to get his attention.

Kinoc turned to him and nodded. "Oh yes. Proceed."

He and Seymour walked to the other end of the command centre. Auron scoffed once they'd gone.

"That Kinoc, a Maester?" he muttered.

Kinoc turned back around. "I heard that Auron. A lot has happened these last ten years. What were you doing and where?"

"Fulfilling a promise I made to a friend," he replied. "I still am."

He began to walk away before Kinoc said something else.

"Just tell me one thing. Have you seen Zanarkand?"

Auron just grunted under his breath before walking away, followed by Tidus, Kimahri, Yuna and me.

Yuna looked a bit upset so I nudged her gently as we walked. "Hey, are you alright?"

"I kinda…think we don't belong here," she admitted.

A man walked up to us and saluted Kinoc and Seymour. "It is time at last," he announced. "We must tell the Al Bhed waiting outside to begin the operation at once."

I frowned at Yuna. She still looked like she was going to cry a little bit.

Kinoc nodded at the man and he continued. "The fiends may break through. This place is not safe. Please be ready to defend yourself."

I reached out and squeezed Yuna's hand. She looked round at me and smiled weakly. We both nodded. I pulled out my sword and she her staff. We turned to face the beach, ready to fight if we had to.

Maester Kinoc stood on a platform to signal to the people on the beach to start.

"Will Sin come?" Yuna asked the man who had been speaking earlier.

The man nodded. "Sin always returns for its spawn. And to make sure we're going to encourage them to call out to it."

"You won't have to," Auron said. "It will come."

As Kinoc signalled to everyone to begin, I noticed that Tidus was now frowning. I remembered about how Sin was his father. He was about to have to watch people fighting his father. I nudged him and nodded, meaning 'I know this'll be hard, but I'm here for you'. He realised what I meant and smiled his thanks before all of us – me, Tidus, Yuna, Auron, Kimahri and now Wakka and Lulu as they had walked back into the command centre – stood facing the beach with our weapons in hand.

Operation Mi'ihen was about to begin.


End file.
